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SECOND ADDRESS 



CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF FAUQUIER 



PEOPLE OF THAT COUNTY, 



IRMY BILL. 




WASHINGTON : 

PRINTED AT THE MADISONIAN OFFICE. 
1840. * 



SECOND ADDRESS 



OF THE 



CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF FAUQUIER 



TO THE 



PEOPLE OF THAT COUNTY, 



ON THE 



ARMY BILL. 



WASHINGTON : 

PRINTED AT THE MADISONIAN OFFICE. 
1840. 



INTRODUCTION 



The following pages were written before the President's letter to Mr. Gary anp 
■ others, of Elizabeth City county, was seen by us. We little thought, when we penn- 
ed them, that they would bring us into direct collision with the President of the United 
States. The position is one which we as little desired as expected. As, however, we 
have made no statement which we are not wilUng to stand by— asserted no fact which 
we are not prepared to prove, and were willing that our arguments should be submitted 
to a candid public for what they are worth— we do not feel called on to alter, nor have 
we altered, a syllable of what we had written : Nor are we deterred from giving our 
lucubrations to our fellow-citizens, as we originally designed, by the fearful oddsAvhich 
we now have to encounter. We are advocating, as we conscientiously believe, the 
cause of truth and of our country. Our early education taught us to believe that truth 
is great, and will, in the end, prevail; and it may be possible that the arrows of truth, 
shot from our feeble bow, may pierce the armour with Avhich his official station has • 
clothed him. 

You are aware, fellow -citizens of Fauquier, that, at a meeting of a portion of those of 
you who entertain the opinion that Mr. Van Buren ought not to be re-elected to the 
high office which he fills, we were appointed a Central Corresponding Committee for 
this our native county. This selection was more on account of our residence at the 
seat of Justice than any merit of ours. It is known to you, also, that, with a single ex- 
ception, and that a reluctant and temporary one, none of us have sought office at the 
hands of either the government or people. We have been content to toil in the sta- 
tion in which Fortune has placed us, and earn our bread by the sweat of our brow — 
leaving it to others to tread the thorny paths of politics. In accepting the appoint- 
ment of your Central Corresponding Committee, we were actuated by the con- 
viction that the good of our country required a change of rulers ; and, in discharge 
of the duties which you imposed upon us, it has been our sole aim to place ac- 
curate information in the hands of the People. We confidently challenge the 
production of a single instance in which we have done otherwise. In the course of our 
examination of the measures of the ruling party, the so-called plan for organizing the 
militia fell in our way; and, being struck with the new and extraordinary principles 
which it proposed to introduce — the injustice which it threatened, in the form of a cap- 
itation tax — the military rigor with which it proposed to visit the militia-man — the un- 
blushing violations of the Constitution which it proposed — and, above all, the standing 
army which lay at the bottom — we deemed it proper to call your attention to it. In- 
stead of doing this by an anonymous publication, or in terms of obloquy and vitupera- 
tion, which unhappily characterize, for the most part, the political discussions of the 
party in power, from the dirty sheet of a village neAvspaper to the President himself, 
as his letter proves, we determined to address you in our own proper names — holding 
ourselves responsible for tlie truth and fairness of our statements, and clothing them in 
language Avhich might have been addressed personally to the individual to whom it 
was applied without a departure from the rules of decorum deemed indispensable be- 
tween gentlemen. We thought it not improbable that we might call doAvn upon our 
heads some of those showers of filth which daily issue from the administration press. 
We steeled ourselves against the infliction by bracing our nerves to bear it in silence. 
To the Van Buren leaders of our own county we threw down the gauntlet, and said, 
"If any man of our own county, of responsible character, will, under h's own hand, 
deny any of the facts which we allege in t'lis or any other communication which Ave 
may venture to make, we pledge ourselves to meet him before the People, at such time 
and place as he may select, and either maintain our position or take the consequences 
of defeat." Our address was published in May — our glove lies untouched. Or, shall 
we say, it has been taken up by the President ? We cannot hope that any thing 
which Ave have said has been deemed of importance enough to discompose his Avell- 
balanced mind or ruffle his imperturbable temper, and cause him to run the risk of for- 
feiting his title to the appellation of a well-bred gentleman, by the use of the vulgar 



IV 

terms in which he has spoken of those who have criticised his plan for a militia army. 
We found ourselves, nevertheless, in the same category with other unnamed persons 
to whom that language applies. Even we, humble as we are, have ventured to lay 
before our fellow-citizens our objections to his plan, and "subscribe our names to the 
statements" which we made. To use his own courtly language, we were " so igno- 
rant*' ourselves, or counted so largely on ''the ignorance of others," as to suppose it 
possible that Mr. Poinsettmeant what he said when he declared it to be his purpose to 
accomplish his scheme "without taxing the Treasury too heavily," and commenced 
his plan of the details by saying, " It should be provided" that every man of the militia 
should furnish himself with arms ; and Avhen, too, he proposed no other means for the 
accomplishment of that indispensable requisite. We were wicked enough, when con- 
sidering the subject in this aspect, to point out the inequality and injustice of the tax 
thus ■proposed" to be levied on men instead of property : and, what seems to have 
been still more offensive, we were wicked enough to express the suspicion that it was 
in reality no part of the plan to arm the whole body of th^ militia, but the real purpose 
was to arm and pay a body of volunteers — and to argue that it would be, in snbstance 
and effect, a standing army. We were unlucky enough, also, in transcribing from his 
message his recommendation of the plan, to omit three words — which omission, we 
will show, did not, as the President has said, "■falsify the true meaning" of the 
message. 

We did, it is true, endeavor to make amends for the accident by hastening to prepare 
a table of errata, in which this and other errors of about equal weight were pointed out, 
and appended it to every copy of our address v.'hich Ave sent to a distance, and a large 
number of those Avhichwe circulated in our own county. We have been twitted, too, 
by our Van Buren neighbors, with the President's onslaught upon our address. To 
remain silent, and suppress our intended second address, "would give ei'ge to theii sar 
casms and weight to their statements. On the other hand, to take to ourselves any of 
the remarks of the President, and stand to our arms when he is in the field, might, we 
are perfectly conscious, subject us to the imputation of vanity and presumption. We 
find ourselves, then, in a dilemma, and must extricate ourselves as well as we may. 
We have determined, for the reasons already given, to take the latter horn ; and pray 
you to bear in mind that although Ave Avere "volunteers" in this matter, yet it is by a 
most unexpected turn in the tide of battle that Ave are brought front to front Avith the 
President. We thrcAv doAvn the gauntlet to our equals — none of them have ventured 
to take it up. To inspire anew their lagging zeal, revive their drooping courage, and 
aid their small shot and birding-pieces Avith the heavy ordnance of the palace, the Pre- 
sident has opened his artillery. The battle must have Avaxed sore against the Philis- 
tines Avhen their commander-in-chief found it necessary to quit his eminence and min- 
gle in the fray W\i\\ the rank and file. He must have felt himself in extremity, indeed, 
Avhen, instead of firing fair round shot, he has charged his piece Avith such missiles as 
he has sent amongst us. 

Taking ourselves to be a portion of the "citizens who have subscribed their names 
to statements," of Avhom the President speaks so harshly and unbecomingly too — as 
the society in Avhich Ave have been bred has taught us to think— Ave will again remark 
that Ave invited those Avho controverted our statements to put their denial in Avrit- 
ing, and point to the specific fact denied. The President has animadverted on 
one only of our facts ; Ave have a right to insist, therefore, that all the others are ad- 
mitted. We gave, in an abridged form, the several sections of AA'hich Mr. Poinsett's 
details were composed — some of them Ave gave Avord for word — Ave assume that we 
have been accurate in this. We stated that the Secretary of War had, in his Report 
to the President, set forth the heads of a certain scheme for organizing the militia, 
which Ave quoted. The accuracy of our quotation not having been questioned, Ave as- 
sume that it is admitted. We gave, too, an extract from the President's Message, 
which, as Ave contended, endorsed the Secretary's jilan. In this it is said Ave have 
offended ; and, in the strong, not to say discourteous language of the President, we at- 
tempted to prove "an unfounded assumption by the publication of a garbled extract 
from that document, Avith its true mo^mns; falsified by the svppression of a material 
part." We Avill remark, en passant, that as Ave had taken upon ourselves the respon- 
sibility of attaching our names to the publication, and issued it amongst our neighbors 
and acquaintances, some of whom eat the bread of the President, whilst others are his 
''sink or swim" advocates — Avhere the means of instant correction Avere in the hands 
of every body, as the omission Avas of three words only, and it was the only inaccuracy 
complained of— a little of that charity Avhich he so largely bespeaks for his OAvn con- 



duct and motives might have induced him to suppose that it was accidental, and that 
his sense of decorum would have led him to use less offensive terms than '' suppress''^ 
and '■'■ garble''' and '•'■ falsify.'''' The same charge Avas made against us by his organ, 
the Globe, and in the same style ; whence we infer, that it is to gratify his palate as 
well as to indulge their oum natural propensities that the conductors of that print fill 
its columns with ribaldry and abuse. But let that pass. 

Our extract is in these words: ''The present condition of the defences of our prin- 
cipal seaports and navy-yards, as represented by the accompanying report of the Se- 
cretary of War, calls for the early and serious attention of Congress ; and, as connecting 
itself intimately with this subject, I cannot recommend too strongly the plan submitted 
by that officer for the organization of the militia of the United States." The true Mes- 
sage reads thus : '' The present condition of the defences of our principal sea-ports and 
navy-yards, as represented by the accompanying report of the Secretary of War, calls 
for the early and serious attention of Congress ; and, as connecting itself intimately 
with this subject, I cannot recommend too strongly to your consideration'^ the plan of 
that officer for the organization of the militia of the United States." The sentence 
which precedes this in the Message, relates to the graduation law, that which follows 
it to the Florida Avar, and there is not another sentence or word in the Message which 
relates to the Secretary's plan for organizing the militia; so that the charge of garb- 
ling, suppressing, and falsifying, rests on the omission of the words, "to your con- 
sideration:" and the difference complained of is, that of strongly recommending a plan 
to an individual and strongly recommending it to his consideration. According to 
Webster, the word '■^recommencV means '' to praise to another— to offer or commend 
to another''s notice, or kindness by favorable representations — to make acceptable — 
to commit loith prayers.'''' Let us take the sentence as the President penned it, and 
substitute for the word " recommend''^ any of the significations of that word above-men- 
tioned : 

I cannot too strongly praise to your consideration the plan, &c. 

I cannot too strongly, by favorable representations, commend to the notice, or 
kindness, of your consideration, the plan, &c. 

I cannot too strongly make acceptable to your consideration the plan, &.c. 

I cannot too strongly commit with prayers to your consideration the plan, &c. 

Now, strike out the words, " to your consideration," and insert the words, •' to you,." 
and tell us the difference which would be thereby effected in the meaning of the sen- 
tence ! And yet it is upon this different mode of expressing the same idea that the 
President has venturned to charge us with the intentional suppression of the words, 
"to your consideration." 

Suppose a man to be afflicted Avith a sore disease, and some doctor, in Avhom he has 
not entire confidence, should prescribe a remedy : — the family physician is called in, 
analyzes the compound, and finds it to be a deadly poison. Instead of exposing the 
empirick, he says to his patient, " I cannot too strongly recommend to your considera- 
tion the potion of that gentleman." His patient takes it, and dies. Is the physician 
not a murderer? If the plan of the Secretary be as deleterious as the People have 
pronounced it to be, the President may take his choice between the alternatives Avhich 
he presents to the citizens Avho have subscribed their names to statements Avhich he 
calls absurd and preposterous, and either confess his own ignorance and unfitness for 
his high office, or his having presumed on the ignorance of others. 

Again: It is only by virtue of an express provision of the Constitution that the Pre- 
sident can meddle Avith the deliberations of Congress, and exert the influence of his 
office in originating laws : and he does this upon his responsibility for the necessity 
and expediency of the measures Avhich he recommends to the consideration of Con- 
gress. Article 2, section 3 of that instrument declares that "he shall, from time to 
lime, give to Congress information of the state of the Uaion, and recommend to their 
consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient?'' When- 
ever, therefore, in the performance of his constitutional duty, the President recom- 
mends a measure to the consideration of Congress, it is because h.^ judges it '■'■neces- 
sary and expedient.'''' And, if he did not think the plan of the Secretary necessary and 
expedient, he violated his oath of office Avhen he '' strongly recommended to their con- 
sideration the plan of that officer." It is upon this miserable quibble, founded upon 

* From the President's letter to the honorable Rice Garland, it is clear that the words " to 
your consideration," constitute the omission which he says falsified the true meaning of his mes- 
sage. No others were, in point of fact, omitted by any of the " citizens who signed their names 
to statements," &c. 



VI 

an accidental omission, which did not change in the slightest degree the sense of the 
extract — a quibble which would cast ridicule upon the lowest pettifogger— one which 
we would not have condescended to notice had it come from any other quarter — that 
the President of the United States has stepped out of his way to write and publish to 
the American People— of a portion of that People who had calmly and respectfully 
canvassed his measures— such language as the following : '' We have been compelled 
to see, not, I should think, without shame and mortification on the part of every ingen- 
uous mind, whatever may be its political preferences, the names of respectable citizens 
subscribed to statements that I had, in my annual Message, expressed my approbation 
of a plan, which not only never had been submitted to me, but was not even matured 
until more than three months after the Message was sent to Congress : and an attempt 
to prove the unfounded assertion by the publication of a gm^hlcd extract from that do- 
cument, with its true meaning falsijied. by the suppression of a material part." We 
will not follow his example by characterizing his conduct in terms which it would war- 
rant. No. We belong to a different school of manners as well as morals from that in 
which he has taken his degrees, and will not stoop to bandy epithets with Martin Van 
Buren, President of the United States. 

Let us look a little into the Pr^iident's logic : He says that his Message was gar- 
bled and a part suppressed, and thereby its true meaning was falsified. We have seen 
that the only words omitted are, ''to your consideration." Now, give to these words 
all the force which even the imagination can impart to them, and how do they alter 
the meaning of the sentence? In no possible way but as qualifying his recommenda- 
tion. They bear upon the question of degree— force — earnestness ; or, at most, upon 
the question of recommendation or no recovimendation, and not upon the question, 
what did he recommend ? The only question on which the message was ever quoted 
is, whether or no the President endorsed the plan recommended by the Secretary in 
his November report, of which he spoke in his Message ; and the words, " to your con- 
sideration" bear upon that question only. Yet the President complains that, by their 
suppression, we have so falsified his meaning as to make him recommend a thing 
\vhich did not exist until more than three months afterwards, and thus would make 
the words, "to your consideration," mean the thing recommended ! Admirable logi- 
cian. We argued that he Avas connusant of the details reported on 20th March, not 
from the premises of the President, but from the fact that the Secretary had said, in 
his Report, that he was then prepared to submit a plan of them to him. And so Ave 
argue now: and you may judge nov.'-, as you judged then, whether the argument is 
weak or forcible. 

In the polite language of the vocabulary of the palace, Ave have also been charged 
with betraying ignorance ourselves, or presuming upon the ignorance of others, in our 
commentaries upon the first section of the proposed plan, which, in express te7")ns, 
requires the militia to furnish their own arms. We have anticipated this, and all the 
other grounds taken by the President, in our address; and if you Avill honor us so far 
as to r'. ad it, Ave shall, Ave trust, satisfactorily sustain the position Avhich Ave originally 
took on that point. 

We Avill now ask attention to the statements of His Excellency, and endeavor to 
show how far he has subjected himself to the charge of a departure from truth, and 
presuming upon the ignorance or subserviency of his supporters. Before, hoAvever, 
Aye enter upon this inquiry, Ave Avill premise that his Virginia correspondents put to 
him a very plain and direct question, Avhich not only admitted of, but required a cate- 
gorical ansAver. "Do you approve of Mr. Poinsett's scheme for the organization of 
the militia V Noav, if ever a question AA^as framed which admitted of a simple an- 
swer, yea or nay, this is that question. The plan had been the subject of discussion 
in the newspapers and in Congress, from the middle of February until late in June. 
Surely if he did not understand it when he recommended it to Congress — if ever he 
can understand it. and ever will make up his mind upon it before the bill is offered for 
his signature— he must have done so by the 31st July, the date of his letter. Yet, in- 
stead of giving a direct negative or affirmative, he flew off to the plans of Knox and 
Jefferson, and Harrison and Jackson, and having mystified his correspondents through 
tAvo columns of the Enquirer, he leaves them to collect his opinion from the beginning, 
or the middle, or the end, or f^rom their OAvn imaginations. He has said encJugh, hoAA^- 
CA-er, to show that he neither disapproves of, or means to abandon the measure. We 
have not space to enter upon an analysis of this part of his letter, but Ave beg such of 
you as peruse our address, to collate it Avith the facts Avhich Ave adduce. We return 
to his statements Avith regard to the mis-called Mr. Poinsett's plan. 

To enable you to understand and apply the language of Mr. Poinsett, in his letter 



Vll 

to Mr. Ritchie, and that of the President, in his letter under review, it is necessary 
that you should bear in mind that there are three documents in relation to this subject: 
First, the Report of the Secretary of War, dated 30th November, 1839, and address- 
ed to the President of the United States— (not to Congress, nor to either House, nor 
to any Committee of Congress : prepared by the Secretary of War, strictly in his re- 
lation as the head of a Department, to his Executive chief:) appended by the Presi- 
dent to his annual Message of the 2d December last, and so transmitted by him, the 
President, direct to Congress. Secondly, the details of the plan, of v^^hich the 
Report contains the heads, and which the Report informs us were matured and 
ready to be submitted to the President on the 30th November, 1839. And, third- 
ly, " the plan reported to Congress" by the Secretary, in obedience to the resolu- 
tion of the House of Representatives of 9th March, 1840. The critical reader will re- 
mark that, by grammatical construction, the language of both the Secretary and the 
President * refers to the latter plan only ; and it is only by confining it to that plan that 
the President can escape from having uttered a plain and palpable untruth. He says 
that the plan of which he speaks, "not only never had been submitted to me> 
but was not even matured until more than three months after the message had been 
sent to Congress." Now, if a plan which was drawn out in detail, and prepared to be 
submitted to him, was matured when it was so drawn out and prepared, then the plan 
which he recommended to the consideration of Congress was matured as early as 30th 
November, 1839. It would be most extraordinary if it were otherwise. The Secre- 
tary had been laboring upon it from early in March to the last of November — had he 
accomplished nothing but a sketch of the outline ? His Report contains the heads, a 
table of contents, an abridgment, an index. Did ever a man abridge a book before it 
was written 1 Is the table of contents, or the chapter, the book, or the index, first com- 
posed ? A man may sketch an outline for his own use, and, in filling up, he will find 
occasion to enlarge, retrench, and obliterate ; buc who ever gave a niere outline as the 
result of his labors, when called on to perform such a task as that imposed upon the 
Secretary by the resolution of the Senate and the request of the Chairman of the 
Committee of the House, in March, 1839 '? Mr. Benton's resolution required " Re- 
ports on the military and naval defences of the country, shewing, First, the fortifica- 
tions, or other permanent defences, commenced, completed, projected, or deemed ne- 
cessary ;" and proceeds with the same minuteness of specification throughout, and 
concludes by asking that the reports should communicate "any other information or 
suggestions which the President may deem necessary to be communicated to Con- 
gress, in order to exhibit a full view of Avhat is necessary to be done, and the probable 
cost thereof, to place the United States in a proper state of defence, by land and wa- 
ter, and on each of the four great lines of defence which her frontiers present." Mr. 
Poinsett says, in his letter to Mr. Ritchie, that immediately after the passage of the 
act which placed ten millions of money at the disposal of the President, to enable him 
to meet and repel any hostile movements on the North-eastern frontier, with militia — 
an act" which, he says, ''defined (that as) the description of force to which the de- 
fence of the country was to be trusted in the event of war — the Committee on the Mi- 
litia, of the House of Representative^, required me to prepare a plan for the better or- 
ganization of the militia of the United States." And did he, in the performance of 
this duty, furnish nothing but the sketch of an outline '? It was possible that the Se- 
cretary might not be able to accomplish more ; but, had that been the case, he would 
have said so, and either acknowledged his inability to perform his allotted task, or 
asked for more time. How did he perform a simdar task imposed upon him by Sena- 
tor Linn's resolution of October 14th, 1837? By reporting a matured plan, with all 
its details. It is for the very purpose of furnishing a matured plan, and drawing up 
details, that these refeiences are made to the heads of departments. They bear the 
same relations to the committees which call on them, as the committees do to the 
House ; and when was it that a committee reported the outline of a bill, leaving all 
the details to be supplied by the House ? Why, then, it may be asked, did he not fur- 
nish the details in his Report of November, 1839 ? Simply because it was no part of 
his plan that they should be submitted to Congress. He reserved them for the Presi- 
dent. But it is not at all necessary to go into this reasoning ; nor would we have de- 
tained you- with it if we were opposed to a less formidable adversary. The Secretary 
himself furnishes direct and positive proof that the whole plan, details, and all, were ma- 

* The one in his letter to Mr. Ritchie, and the other in his letter to Mr. Gary and others. 



VIU 

lured on the 30th day; of November, 1839, and gives the reason why the details were 
kept back. After going through the heads, he says, " But the details had better be 
left to regulation,?^ plan of which I am prepared to submit to you 

The difference between this language and that used in reference to the call from 
the Senate, is very striking. After giving an account of the condition of our defences, 
(and a woful account it is) and furnishing in part the information required by the re- 
solution of the Senate, he says: "In a report preparing, in reply to a resolution of 
the Senate calling for information on this subject, I shall enter into all the details 
connected with it." He was not prepared to submit a plan of those details. No, 
they were preparing — not yet matured — but he was prepared to submit a plan of 
the details " for organizing the militia :" that plan was matured. 

Now, the President may take his choice ; he may say that the plan Avhich he avers 
was not matured until more than three months after this report was, as the Secretary 
calls it in his letter to Mr. Ritchie, "the plan reported to Congress," and not the plan 
mentioned in the November report. Or he may say that it \oas the last named plan. 
If the former, then, were we to borrow our language from his vocabulary, we should 
say that he may have told the truth in words, but has practised a deception on his 
readers. If the latter, we have disproved his assertion by the report of his own Sec- 
retary, sanctioned by himself. We doubt not but that he meant to take shelter under the 
first position. 

" The plan reported to Congress" Avas not entirely matured when the November 
report was made. The plan of the details which was prepared for the private eye of 
the President, required to be a little softened before it was communicated to Con- 
gress. We can see where a limb or two Avere pruned a little. The number of dis- 
tricts was increased from eight to ten, and their limits reduced. Mr. Rives had com- 
mented on the word "stationed," in the heads, and shown that it gave the President 
power to march the militia of Maine to Florida and " station" them there. This po- 
tent word was pruned away, and the power of the President limited to catling them 
out to any place within their respective districts. These and others which may have 
been necessary, required the plan to be recast, the labor of which employed a portion 
of the ten days which elapsed between the call of the House and the report of 20tli 
March. And this explains the whole matter. 

After discussing the question, whether the militia can "Constitutionally" be called 
into the service of the United States for '•training,'''' and telling us, "Nor is it be- 
lieved that they would in general be properly instructed and disciplined, unless they 
are called out and received into the service of the United States," and instead of giv- 
ing to the proposition the decided negative whicli the Constitution has given it, put- 
ting us off with "it would seem to be a necessary inference'^ that the power to pre- 
scribe the discipline, does not carry the power to call out the militia and receive them 
into the service of the United States for training, and finally reserving the decision of 
the question " until it becomes necessary to act officially in the matter," the President 
says, "Mr. Poinsett seems to have been more sensibly impressed with this obstacle 
than his predecessors," &c. A greater error is not to be found in the letter, nor even 
in the lauded reports of the committees of the two Houses, than this assertion. 
In the 17th section of " the plan reported to Congress," it is proposed — 
" That the President of the Unitrd States, be authorized to call forth and assem- 
ble such numbers of the active force of the militia, at such places within their respect- 
ive districts, and at siicJi times, not exceeding twice, nor days in the same year, 
as he may deem necessary ; and during such period, including the time when going 
to, and returning from, the place of rendezvous, they shall be deemed in the service 
of the United States, and be subject to such regulations as the President may think 
proper to adopt for their instruction, disciplinej and improvement in military know- 
ledge." 

In this single section, two most important provisions of the Constitution are violated. 
First, that which reserves to the States the power to train the militia; and secondly, 
that which confers on Congress, not the President, the power to prescribe the disci- 
pline, or in the language of the section, the '' regulations for their instruction, disci- 
pline, and improvement in military knowledge." The Secretary's attention was called 
to the first by the chairman of the committee of the House, and in answer to an objec- 
tion not raised by his own sensibility to constitutional difficulties, but by others, he 
proposes to accomplish his purpose of placing the active and reserved corps under the 
command of the President, by a device equally unconstitutional, to wit : by procuring 
the assent of the States ; as if the assent of a State Legislature could engraft a new 
provision on the Constitution, and transfer to the President a power expressly reserved 



IX 

to the States ! So much for the Secretary's sensibility to Constitutional difficulties '. 
We have not space to transcribe from the plans of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, 
Munroe, and Jackson, extracts to show that neither of them ever contemplated this 
violation of the rights of the States. Geceral Harrison, in his report of 9th January, 
1818, says: " Congress having power to provide for governing the militia only when 
they are in the service of the United States, and the authority of training them be- 
longing to the State Governments^ the committee have not deemed it proper that 
Congress should prescribe the time to be devoted to training, or the manner in which 
that object shall be best effected. It is the duty of the State Legislatures to enact 
the necessary laws for that purpose. The Committee deem it a sufficient exercise 
of the power to provide for disciplining the miUtia, to direct the appointment of the 
necessary officers, to prescribe their duties, and to provide a system of discipline, 
comprehending the camp duties, instruction, field exercise, and field service of the 
militia." So exclusively does he deem "the authority of training" to pertain to the 
States that he thought it necessary to amend the constitution in order to give 
to Congress a power to train them " concurrenthf with the States — and yet the 
President says that Mr. Poinsett evinced greater sensibility to constitutional difficulties 
than '' his predecessors !"* 

The President says : " It is but lately that my attention has been particularly drawn 
to this subject." How far back the Avord " lately" may carry him according to his 
version of it, we will not undertake to say ; but this we do say, that his attention was 
most particularly drawn to this subject as far back as the 5th of December, 1837 ; that 
as early as that day he originated and recommended the leading and unconstitutional 
features of the plan, and both he and his organ, the Globe, have from that day down 
to the Message of 24th December last, and to the time of the retreat which was sound- 
ed by Mr. Ritchie, pressed it upon Congress and the nation ; and for proof Ave refer, to 
his messages and articles published in the Globe, which we have commented on in our 
address. 

The president says : " some surprise has been expressed, and doubts appear to be 
entertained of the correctness of his ('.he Secretary's) declaration that the plan was not 
seen by me, or submitted to my consideration before it was communicated to Con- 
gress. Those who take this view of the subject, entirely overlook the fact that such 
is almost invariably the case on all similar occasions ; and that in replying to calls 
made tipon them by either branch of the legislature, the heads of departments act 
for Congress and not for the President ; except on occasions where his acts are 
brought into question.'''' 

From the nature of things, it is not to be expected that we should have it in our 
j»ower to disprove this statement. Whether the Secretary submitted all his reports, 
and if not all, which of them, is a question which it is difficult for any save themselves 
to answer. The duty of both requires that it should be done. The President, accor- 
ding to his own doctrine, has the power to control the Secretary in all things, and as 
the price of that power he is, in the language of his predecessor, bound " to oversee'^ 
and " is responsible'''' for all his official acts ; •' the entire action of the executive depart- 
ment," as the Protest hath it. Now it is a rule of law, as v.'ell as reason, that every 
public officer is presumed to do his duty until the contrary appears, so that the burthen 
of proof lies upon the President. This presents us in a strange attitude ; the Presi- 
dent declaring that he does not do his duty, and we raaintainmg that he does ; for we 
shall prove, difficult as it may appear, that the Secretary does submit his reports to the 
President, although they are prepared in obedience to calls made upon him by one of 
the branches of the legislature, and do not relate to '' occasions Avhere his (the Presi- 
dent's) acts are brought in question." 

The first call that was made by " either branch of the legislature," on the present 
.Secretary, that we have met with, was by a resolution of the Senate, introduced by 
Mr. Linn on the 14th of October, 1837, at the extra session. That call was directly 
on the Secretary, and in no respect related to occasions Avhere the President's "acts 
were brought in question." The Secretary responded to this call on the 30th Decem- 
ber, 1837, the regular session. His report in answer to this call, was not only sub- 
mitted to the President before it was sent to the Senate, but whilst it was in prepara- 
tion ; and this is proven by the President's own message, sent to Congress on the 5tk 
December preceding, twenty-five days before the report. In that message the Presi- 

* We have gone more fully into this part of the subject in our review of the reports of the com- 
mittees. It became necessary to advert to it again when we are examining into the correctness 
of the President's '• statements," 



dent speaks of the report as one which will be submitted, and of its contents, as known 
to and approved by him. 

Near the close of the session of 1838, the chairman of the committee on the militia, 
of the House of Representatives, made another call on the Secretary, which did not 
relate to "occasions" where the President's " acts were in (juestion;" that is to say, 
he Avas called on to prepare a plan for a new organization of the militia. The Secre- 
tary responded to this call, not by a report to the House never shown to the President, 
but to the President himself, and through him to both Houses, and neither made any other 
reply to this call, nor ever intended to make any other. He was a third time called 
upon by the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th March last, to which 
he replied by a report to that House. Whether that report was shown to the Presi- 
dent before it was sent in, is the question at issue. We have said that the Secretary 
never made any other reply to the call of the committee on the militia through their 
chairman, than that contained in his report to the President, and did not intend to 
make any other. His annual report, which gave the heads of his plan for organizing 
the militia, the thing called for by the committee, was made to the President, on the 
30th November, 1839. Owing to the failure of the House of Representatives to elect 
a Speaker, the President's Message was not sent to Congress until the 24th Decem- 
ber following, and with that message he transmitted the Secretary's report. The sub- 
ject was referred, in due course, to the committees of the two Houses. The commit- 
tee of the Senate held it under consideration until the day of June, when they 
reported, and no other information Avas given to the Senate touching the plan for or- 
ganizing the militia, than that contained in the Secretary's report to the President. 
The committee of the House had the subject before them from the time of its reference 
to the 9th day of March, three months and nine days after the Secretary had said that 
he was prepared to submit a plan of the details to the President; and during this pe- 
riod not one word of information was communicated by the Secretary, either to the 
House of Representatives or the committee on the militia, in reply to the call made 
upon him at the close of the former session, save that contained in his report to the 
President. We have shown that the Secretary had matured his plan at least as early 
as the 30th of November. On the 9th March, the house passed a resolution calling for 
the details. On the 20th he furnished them. Why were they not communicated sooner? 
W'hy wait for another call, if, as the President has said, " it was almost invariably the 
case in replying to calls made upon them by either bra&eh of the legislature, that the 
heads of departments act for Congress and not for the President?" The report of 30th 
November answers these questions, and disproves the President's assertion. That re- 
port, made to the President, contains all the information which the Secretary designed 
for Congress touching this matter. It set forth the heads of his plan, and said : " The 
manner of enrollment, the number of days of service, and the rate of compensation, ought 
to be fixed by law" — in other words, by Congress — "but the details had better be sub- 
ject to regulation" — in other words, left to the President — and concludes, ''a plan of 
which I am prepared to submit to you." 

As he did not intend that Congress should be troubled Avith the details, he did not 
communicate them to Congress ; as he proposed that every thing necessary to embody, 
govern, command and discipline this army of 200,000 men, should be left to the Presi- 
dent, he reserved his plan of the details necessary to carry out this '' notable" scheme 
for the private eye of the President. That the plan of the details "reported to Congress" 
was not reported in obedience to the call of the previous session, is proven also by the 
letter accompanying that plan. That letter commences thus : " Sir, in compliance with 
the resolution of the House of Representatives, of the 9th instant, 'that the Secretary of 
War be requestedto communicate his plan in detail for the organization of the militia of 
the United States,' I have the honor to submit the folloAving report." So far, then, from 
its being true that it is "almost inA^ariably the case" that the Secretary replies to a call 
from " either branch of the legislature" Avithout submitting his report to the President, 
"except only on occasions where his acts are brought in question," the contrary prac- 
tice prevails, as it most unquestionably should. That replies to calls for information 
on mere matters of detail, or for information Avhich can only be obtained at the public 
offices, made and replied to durmg the session, are not in all cases submitted to the 
President, we believe ; but that reports on great national interests, for the prepara- 
tion of which time is given from session to session, are prepared without the participa- 
tion of the President, and communicated to Congress Avithovit being ever shown to 
him, would prove a degree of dehnquency in botb the Secretary and the President, 
which of itself would justify their dismissal from office. But that the President should 
undertake to give his high sanction and his strong recommendation to plans thuspre- 



XI 

pared and reported, is not to be believed. The President, then, in the passage of his 
letter which we have quoted, has committed a gross error. Not in mis-quoting a 
sentence, by leaving out three words which do not atfect the sense, which might have 
happened by his own inadvertence, the carelessness of a copyist, or an error of the 
press, but in the assertion of a fact. Not in the narration of a fact communicated to 
him by another, which might have been misconceived, but in a fact which rested in, 
and is asserted upon, his oxen knowledge. Not in an unimportant collateral matter, 
hut upon the very question at issue. He is contradicted, not by the mouth of a wit- 
ness, who may have forgotten or be mistaken, or testify falsely, but hy the record. 
Not by a musty record of ancient times, but by his own record, of no older date than 
his own three years' reign, commencing with it" and running through it, down to the 
20th day of March, 1840. Not in a single instance, but in every instance in regard to 
which we have any evidence save his own assertion. If he vouches his Secretary, 
we have shown in another place that his recollection has misled him also, not only in 
regard to this matter, but another of equal importance. If we were to follow the ex- 
ample set us by his Excellency, and indulge in language personally offensive, we might 
say that charity herself would be unable to attribute his error to mistake. We should 
say, it " is not without shame and mortification on the part of every ingenuous mind, 
whatever may be its political prepossessions, that we see the name of the President of 
the United States subscribed to such statements:" that we see him descend from the 
lofty station to which an abused people have elevated him, mingle in the discussions 
which the question of his re-election has given rise to, indulge in language towards 
citizens whom he admits to be respectable, which would not be tolerated in the ordi- 
nary intercourse of gentlemen, and attempt to justify his departure from truth and good 
breeding by a v, retched quibble. Instead of answering promptly and unequivocally a 
few plain questions, which required no time for consideration, and the answers to 
which could have been comprised in half a dozen sentences, he has "for political and 
personal purposes" filled more than four columns of a newspaper with electioneering 
stuff, and availed himself of an "unfounded" pretext to delay his answer and withhold 
it from the newspapers, for near two months, to the end that it should go uncontradict- 
ed into an adjoining State in the crisis of an election, which, if it go against him, is 
decisive of his fate.* '"Our chief regret on witnessing such degrading exhibitions, 
arises from the consideration of the opinion which foreigners, who have not the same 
reason to respect our political institutions that we have, are likely to form of the charac- 
ter of our people, when they see that the most conspicuous man among us can pro- 
mise Kimself any advantage from attempts to delude his fellow citizens, by means of 
such monstrous conduct. This regret is, however, we confess, materially diminished 
by the conviction' that the people will, in the sequel, as they have heretofore done, con- 
vince those who attempt in this manner to operate upon their credulity, of the folly of 
seeking to accomplish in this country, political objects by such discreditable means." 
The President is very indignant at the suspicion that his militia scheme is a stand- 
ing army in disguise. It is this, we doubt not, that has destroyed the equilibrium 
which he generally preserves so admirably, ruffled his almost imperturbable temper, and 
irritated his " not over sensitive" nerves. We are not surprised at it. Nothing dis- 
concerts a juggler so much as to expose his tricks. If the imputation were so ''pre- 
posterous," and such "a monstrous absurdity" as he would make the nation believe it 
to be, it would not have inflicted such a galling wound. His theatrical starts and star- 
ing eyes would not be played off before the people, at the apparition of a raw head and 
bloody bones of the nursery. Nor would he, Ave are persuaded, have run the hazard 
of forfeiting his title to the reputation of a gentleman, by applying to citizens 
whom he admits to be respectable, and who are as yet, thank God, as free to criticise 
his measures as he is to animadvert upon their criticisms, language so unbecoming his 
own high station, if he did not feel it necessary to withdraw public attention from his 
militia bill and give it a different direction. He makes strong protestations against the 
imputation, and is profuse in professions of attachment to the Constitution. His Sec- 
retary, too, in his letter to Mr. Ritchie, demands our confidence in the purity of his 
own and the President's intentions. We have had enough of professions. General 
Jackson condemned the practice of bringing the patronage of the Government in con- 
flict with the freedom of elections. Mr. Van Buren professed to carry out his princi- 
ples ; yet we have seen the head of the Post Office Department quit his station to devote 

* The letter of Mr. Gary and others, is dated 12th June ; the President's answer the 3lst July : 
published in the Enquirer 7th August. North Carolina election commenced latter part of July, 
and runs through nearly half of August; occurring principally on l3th. 



xu 

Jiimself 10 a newspaper, the declared object of which is to promote the re-election of his 
former master. We have seen him promise the future patronage of the Government to 
those who would aid in its ciiculation, and attract subscribers by telling them that they 
could, through the agency of the deputy post masters, transmit their subscriptions to 
him free of charge ; and we state upon undoubted authority, that a post master in the 
little county of Prince William, is not ashamed to boast, that he had distributed one 
hundred copies of that paper to persons not subscribers. Professions and pro- 
testations are too cheap and threadbare a commodity to barter our liberty for. 
When Cromwell at the head of an armed force dispersed the members of the 
British Parliament, he protested that "he had come for the purpose of doing what 
grieved him to the very soul, and what he had earnestly with tears besought the Lord 
not to impose upon him, but there was a necessity in order to the glory of God and the 
good of the nation." 

When Napoleon with his grenadiers drove the members of the Council of five hun- 
dred from the Hall, he professed to act in the name of liberty and equality. To their 
demands of confidence we answer, "pardon us gentlemen," confidence should be a 
plant of slow growth in a republican soil; it is not confidence in rulers, but jealousy, 
and ever watchful vigilance, that Liberty exacts of her votaries as the price of the 
blessings which she bestows. 

August 12th, 1840. 



SECOND ADDRESS 
TO THE PEOPLE OF FAUaUIER COUNTY. 



The new, unexpected, and extraordinary ground assumed by many (not all) of the 
advocates for the re-election of Mr. Van Buren in regard to his participation in the 
plan for a standing army, in the face of evidence which would have appalled any but 
a "sink or swim" advocate, makes it necessary for us again to present ourselves to 
your notice. We say "present" not "intrude," for upon a question which concerns, 
so vitally, not only the present generation, but the remotest posterity, every man is a 
party and has a right to be heard by those who are to pass upon it for weal or for wo^ 
We now, as on a former occasion, prefer addressing you in our own proper names 
rather than anonymously. We are under the most solemn conviction that the perma- 
nency, if not the very existence, of our free institutions, depends upon the success of 
the efforts now being made to arrest the career of the party which has so long enjoyed, 
and shamelessly abused, the confidence of the People. Such a cause needs not the 
aid of misrepresentation. If the People will open their eyes and their understandings 
to behold and appreciate the truth it is enough. As we feel conscious that our object 
is virtuous and patriotic, and mean to wield no weapons but truth and reason, we deem 
it proper to vouch, with our own names, the facts which we assert, and are willing to 
stand or fall in the esteem of our neighbors by the title which we shall maintain to 
candor and fair dealing. 

In our former address to you on this subject we said " Ave shall not be drawn aside 
by the assaults of anonymous writers, or hireling editors, nor do we intend to make a 
crusade through the State ; but we do say that if any man of our own county, of re- 
spectable character, will, under his own hand, deny any of the facts which we allege 
in this, or any other communication which we may venture to make, we pledge our- 
selves to meet him before the People at such time and place as he may select, and 
either maintain our position or take the consequences of defeat." We have the grati- 
fication to find that no one has ventured to take up the gauntlet; whatever may have 
been said in conversation or in public addresses no man has ventured to point out a. 
single error in fact, no one has ventured to question the accuracy of our deductions, or 
the justness of our remarks, in the mode which we invited. That mode was fair and 
equal. What we said was in print with our names attached. We asked that he who 
accepted our challenge should put his acceptance in the same form, and point to the 
specific fact which he objected to. This Avas the only mode to bring us to a fair issue. 
Words are fleeting, may be misunderstood or forgotten ; ingenuity may explain them 
away ; prevarication may deny them : but when they are put upon paper, there they 
stand, veracious and abiding witnesses. From their testimony there is no retreat ; 
they must be manfully met, or disgracefully abandoned. Having placed ourselves in 
this attitude, we say it was but fair to demand of our opposers that they should place 
themselves in the same, or admit the truth and justice of what we have said. They 
have chosen the latter. We say then to our fellow citizens who have honored us sa- 
far as to peruse o ur former address, that every word of it is substantially admitted by 
the leaders of the opposite party. The great Globe itself has been able to point out no 
error but the accidental omission of a few words which does not alter the sense, and 
has quietly permitted its promiseirefutation to fade from the memory of its readers. 

If, fellow citizens, any sworn advocate of the administration should corner one of 
you and say, or in a stump speech venture to declare, that our assumption of admitted 
accuracy is unwarranted, we bag you to remind him that the field is yet open to him, 
and say to him that he also was, and is invited, to bring his objections to our test, put 
it down in writing, put his name to it, and appoint a time and place to discuss it before 
the People. So far from refuting the objections, urged by ourselves and others, to this 
grand scheme for a standing army, the managers of the Administration party in Vir- 
ginia have made what we shall show to be a vain attempt to clear the President's skirts 
of it, and concentrate the public reprobation on the head of his Secretary. This at- 
tempt is as extraordinary as it will prove to be vain and futile. The youngest amongst 
xis who is old enough to go to the polls is old enough to remember the language of the 
predecessor of the President when he assumed the power to control the discretion of 
aU executive officers. Upon that occasion he said, and it is written in your books, '' By 
the Constitution the executive power is vested in a President of the United States 



Among the duties imposed upon him, and which he is sworn to perform, is that of 
* taking care that the laws be faithfully executed :' being thus made responsible for the 
entire action of the Executive Department, itw^as but reasonable that the power of 
appointing, overseeing, and controlling, those who execute the laws, a power, in its 
nature, executive, should remain in his hands." 

Now there was something of the characteristic gallantry of the old soldiei in this. 
It is said to be a practice in some of the schools in Great Britain in which the sprigs 
of nobihty are educated, to associate with those whose skins are too delicate for the 
birch what are called "whipping boys." By the way, the wrong part of speech is 
used in the definition, for whenever a lordling commits a fault these poor fellows are 
flogged for it. But General Jackson was willing, not only to take his own share of the 
flogging, but all which the nation was disposed to inflict, reserving. to himself, how- 
ever, the power to flog those who were placed under him.* We had a right to expect 
equal gallantry from Mr. Van Buren. His pledge "to follow in the footsteps of his 
predecessor" and ''carry out the principles of his administration" cannot be forgotten 
by any one who is at all conversant with public affairs. His participation in the meas- 
ures, and his concurrence in the doctrines, of the administration, of which he formed 
a prominent and most efficient member gave occasion for his proudest boast in his in- 
augural address. Upon that occasion he said, " In receiving from the People the same 
trust twice confided to my illustrious predecessor, and which he has discharged so 
faithfully and so well, I know I cannot expect to perform the arduous task with equal 
ability and success. But united as I hare been in his counsels, *a daily witness of his 
exclusive and unsurpassed devotion to his country's welfare, agreeing with him in 
sentiments, which his countrymen have warmly supported, and permitted to partake 
largely of his confidence, I may hope that somewhat of the same cheering approba- 
tion win be found to attend on my path." 

The duty of "overseeing," and the "• responsibility for the entire action of the 
Executive Department,'''' were the price of a great, not to say alarming, extension 
of executive power — no less than to control the discretion of every subordinate officer 
of the Government, and to remove them however honest, however capable, if their 
views of their duty differed from those of the President, and thus to convert them 
from what they were theretofore esteemed — servants of the people bound to obey the 
law, into servants of the President bound to execute his will. 

The power of removal for incapacity or unfaithfulness conferred upon the President 
in the best days of the Republic, and by the purest patriots, is not to be found in the 
Constitution. Neither the framers of that instrument nor the People who ratified it, 
had any idea that they were making their President, like the Monarch of England, 
the sole fountain of honor, sole arbiter between the People and the rest of their public 
servants. No such grant, we repeat, is to be found in the Constitution, and those illus- 
trious men whose cotemporaneous exposition is looked upon as part of the Constitu- 
tion itself, Madison, Hamilton, and Jay, in the work to which they gave their joint 
sanction, quieted the fears so justly entertained of an overshadowing Executive, by 
informing the People that " the consent of the Senate would be necessary to displace, 
as well as to appoint ;"t and thus explained, and understood, the Constitution was rat- 
ified by the People. Under the guidance of some evil genius the first named gentleman 
led the assault by which this barrier was broken down, and the others foUov.ed. It 
would seem that the men of that day, dazzled by the virtues of Washington, thought 
the Executive the safest depository of power ; they treated with scorn and derision 
the apprehension that, in after times, a President might be found who would use for 
sinister purposes a power bestowed upon him for the good of the People. The warn- 
ings of caution, the forebodings of jealous republicans, Avere unheeded ; and. fatally 
for the peace and welfare of our country, the power was recognized as belonging to 
the President under the Constitution.! For nearly forty years it slumbered in com- 
parative repose, when it was awakened into fearful energy by the Lion of the West, 
and wielded with his wonted daring. So faithful has his successor been to his promise 
to tread in his footsteps, so far, at least, as the exercise of this power is concerned, that 
that Avhich, by the doctors of 179 — , was intended "for an extreme medicine has be- 
come our daily food." When this tremendous engine was first placed in the hands of 

* Vide protest sent to the Senate April 17th, 1834. 
r Vide Federalist No. 77. 

t The concession to the Executive of the power of removal from office was carried, by Mr. 
Madison, in the House of Representatives, by a considerable majority. It passed the Senate by 
the casting vote of John Adams, their Vice President. 



the Executive, the fears of the People were quieted by the reflection that their Wash- 
ington was to wield it ; when it was used to give a still wider sweep to Executive 
power they were again lulled into security by the assurance that the President would 
" oversee," and was "res/>o/zst6/e /or the entire action of the Executive Depart- 
ment.'''' These assurances were disseminated by the Administration press, and execu- 
tive partisans, all over the Union. In spite of the arguments and remonstrances of 
the opposition, this doctrine became the doctrine of the party then comprising a large 
majority of the People; and now, that a measure concocted at the War office, under 
the very nose of the President, of unmixed evil to the People, and boundless increase 
to the enormous mass of executive power already accumulated, has called forth exe- 
crations deep and loud, these very presses, and these very partizans, tell us that the 
President's skirts are clear of this sin; that it is the measure of the Secretary of War, 
and the President is not responsible for it. When a great increase to executive power 
is desired, those men, with democracy on their lips, and devotion to power in iheir 
hearts, cry out "the President is responsible and ought to have the power:" when 
that responsibility presses, it is thrown upon a subordinate, who is prevailed upon to 
become the scape-goat on whose head are placed the sins of his party.* Will you, 
fellow citizens, suffer yourselves to become the dupes ol such a shallow artifice ? Ei- 
ther take from the President the power which he has assumed, or hold him to the 
responsibility which it involves. This you can do at the ballot boxes, where, alone, 
your power can be felt. Do it no\v, for when the President shall have surrounded his 
throne with two hundred thousand Pretorian guards, and left the militia an unin- 
structed, unarmed, and unorganized, '' mass," your eflorts will be impotent. Hold Mr. 
Van Buren, we again say, to his responsibility ; the measure is his, upon his own prin- 
ciples ; and we have greatly deceived ourselves if, before we quit the subject, we do 
not prove that it is his in point of fact. Before, however, Ave pass to that branch of 
the subject, we request you to bear in mind that the attempt to throw the odium of this 
measure on Mr. Poinsett, gives us one advantage of no little importance. It is an 
open confession of its damning character. 

Fellow citizens, we undertake to bring the scheme, the details of which were com- 
municated to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, accompanied by a letter of 
explanation from the Secretary of War, dated March 20th, 1840, home to his Excel- 
lency Martin Van Buren, President of the United States. We undertake to prove 
that he first conceived it, and that his chivalrous Secretary has been nothing more 
than an accoucheur. That it was sustained and lauded by his supporters, until the 
people condemned it; and we aver that it has not even yet been denounced by a sin- 
gle member of Congress or leading administration press. Some, indeed, have uttered 
faint murmurs of dissent, whilst others, including the Globe, the known organ of the 
President, and the familiar of his palace, have lauded and defended it against the at- 
tacks of the Whigs. And finally, we will show that the scheme indicated by the heads 
contained in the Secretary's report to the President, dated 30th November, 1839, and 
communicated by the latter to Congress on the 24th of December following, endorsed 
by his strong recommendation,??! erery essential particidar in which it varies f^om 
the details communicated by the Secretary to the Speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives is worse than those details. 

The only testimony which furnishes a shadow of ground for the attempt to sci'een 
the President, is the letter of the Secretary of War to Thomas Ritchie, Esq. Secre- 
tary of the Central Van Buren Committee. We know Mr. Poinsett only as late Min- 
ister to Mexico, and present Secretary of War. We are willing to accord to him 
every title to credence which can rightfully be claimed by any gentleman circumstan- 
ced as he is, but no more. As a public servant, we shall scan his conduct with free- 
dom, but with the courtesy which is due to his station and to the rank he holds in so- 
ciety. He has voluntarily presented himself as a witness before the American people, 
on a question in which their vital concerns are deeply involved ; as a portion of that 

* Leviticus, chapter xvi. verse 21, " And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the 
live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgres- 
sions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the 
hand of a fit man into the wilderness. 

" 22. And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited, and he 
shall let go the goat into the wilderness." 

Query. Has Mr. Poinsett been sent into the wilderness, or does he yet sit by the flesh-pots of 
Egypt ? 



people, we claim, and mean to exercise the right of subjecting his testimony to all just 
criticism ; and if we find him involved in self-contradiction, we shall insist on all its 
legitimate consequences. Before we examine the tenor of his letter, we beg to call 
your attention to the position of the witness and the character of his evidence. 

Mr. Poinsett is a prominent member of the dominant party. He at least is responsi- 
ble for a measure Avhich has excited universal odium. It is he who stigmatized the 
whole body of the militia as an incumbrance, and the officers as a set of ignoramus'. 
He never can hope for promotion at the hands of a people whom he has insulted, and 
proposed to make the slaves of the President. As a politician his days are numbered, 
when Mr. Van Buren and the party which sustains him shall fall from their high estate. 
His only hope is in the success of that party. He, therefore, above all men, has a deep 
stake in the question on which he is called to testify. We object to him, then, in 
limine as an interested witness. We object still more strongly to the e.vparte charac- 
ter of his testimony. 

Fellow citizens, suppose one of you to be engaged in a law suit with a company of 
traders. Suppose the controversy mainly to turn on a particular fact. Suppose one of 
the company to write to a witness and say, '' if this thing be as our adversary repre- 
sents it, and as circumstances prove it to be, we are undone. You are the only man 
that can save us. 'Come, now, my good friend, give us a lift. We want your affida- 
vit. We do not wish you to testify directly to the point one way or the other, Ave know 
you will not say the thing that is not, but you can give us something to hang an argu- 
ment upon ; you are not sworn to tell the whole truth ; nor will you be bothered with 
questions by the other party. Say just as much for us as you can, with a safe 
conscience, and if you know any thing that will make against us, why you can just — 
leave it out." 

Would you be Avilling that your cause should be decided upon testimony thus obtain- 
ed, let the witness stand as high as he might? And if you would not consent to the 
reading of such an e.rparte affidavit of a disinterested person, what would you say to 
evidence thus procured from one of the firm ? 

To enable you to judge hoAv far our supposititious case applies to the testimony on 
which alone you are asked for a verdict of acquittal for Mr. Van Buren, let us turn to 
the history of the correspondence alluded to, and the circumstances which called it 
forth. 

You are already apprised that the heads of a scheme for embodying a military force, 
similar in many respects to that given in detail by the Secretary, Avere reported by him 
to the President on the 30th November, 1839, and strongly recommended to the con- 
sideration of Congress by him in his message of 24th December following. In the 
month of February last, Mr. Rives, in a published letter, amongst other reasons why 
he could not support the re-election of Mr. Van Buren, mentioned this scheme for a 
military force. He spoke of it as it was presented by the heads set forth in the report 
of 30th November, and urged various strong objections to it. The campaign thus 
opened by Mr. Rives Avas followed up by Col. Campbell, son of that Col. Campbell 
who Avith Shelby led the militia at the battle of King's Mountain, and overthrew the 
Tories of that day. After these attacks, and'in the midst of the excitement of the spring 
elections, Mr. Poinsett's details were communicated to Congress. This communica- 
tion placed the measure fully betore the people in all its deformity, and greatly added 
to the excitement. The administration party every Avhere declared that it lost them 
thousands of votes. So sensitive Avas the editor of the Enquirer on this point, that he 
did not publish these details in that paper. He published only the recommendatory 
letter, so that instead of enabling his readers to judge for themselves by giving them 
the thing itself, he put them off Avith the praises of its projector. His omission was 
noticed by the opposition journals; still he Avo^ld not publish "the details." They 
taunted him Avith his fears ; still he Avas silent. Some gentlemen in Richmond re- 
quested him to publish those frightful details, and offered to pay for them as an adver- 
tisement ; he refused. At length his friends, seeing that his refusal Avas doing as much 
harm as the hateful details themselves could possibly do, advised him to publish them. 
He promised to do so; but paper after paper issued, and no details appeared. In the 
mean time he put forth an ominous feeler: " Avhat (he asks) would the Whigs say if 
Mr. Poinsett should take the responsibility on himself."* Seeing that his party would 

* We have not the Enquirer before us, and mean only to give our recollection of the substance 
of the article. 



gladly avail themselves of even this subterfuge, he next assures them that Mr. Poin- 
sett will take the responsibility, and then comes the correspondence, two letters, of 
which are published. How many more passed we are left to conjecture. 

But further, the Hon. Secretary, if we understand the force oflanguage, is involved in 
a self-5ontradiction ; and it is proper as well to enable you to appreciate his testimony 
as to vindicate our own accuracy, that we should point it out. We said in our formre ad- 
dress, that according to the details of his plan " the militia of western Virginia may be 
ordered to the banks of the Delaware or shores of the Chesapeake ; those of Maine to 
Vermont ; the men of Pittsburg to the banks of the Hudson ; those of North Carolina 
to the swamps of Florida ; the mountaineers of Tennessee to New Orleans ; Kentucky 
to Indiana, and Ohio to Wisconsin, and vice versa." 

This feature of the scheme staggered even the committee of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, to which it was referred ; and in a letter from the chairman to the Secre- 
tary of the 6th April, 1840, he asks, ''are we to understand that the President is em- 
powered to call out the whole force of any one of the districts at the same time, and at 
any point Avhich he may designate ?" To which the Secretary replied on the 8th, that 
" the plan contemplated that the power of the President to call out the militia, should 
be restricted to assembling the militia of each State within its own territorial limits.'-^ 
In his letter to Mr. Ritchie he says that, according to his plan "the militia mustered far 
training, to be assembled in the neighborhood of depots of arms, to be established for 
the purpose, each battalion within its own State, and as nearly as practicable in 
the centre of its district." 

If this be true, then we were in error when we said, " the militia of western Virgima. 
may be marched to the banks of the Delaware." We maintain, however, that we 
were right, and the Secretary plainly and palpably wrong ; and for proof we appeal to 
the very 14th and 17th sections, to which his attention was specially called by the let- 
ter of the chairman of the committee. 

The 14 til .section is in these words : 

" That for the greater convenience of instruction and discipline of the active and sedentary 
force, the territory of the United States shall be divided into ten districts, which, until otherwise 
directed by law, shall be composed as follows : 



1st district. 



Maine, 

New Hampshire, 

Vermont, 



2d district. 



Massachusetts 
Rhode Island 
Connecticut 



tts, ) 

M 



9,200 men. 



9,600 men. 



3d district. 

New York, 18,000 men. 

4th district. 



New Jersey, i 



Pennsylvania, 



13,200 men. 



.5th district. 



Delaware, 
Maryland, 
Dist. Columbia, . 
Virginia, J 



1 



■■ 10,400 men, 



6th district. 



North Carolina,") 

South Carolina, 1^ 10,000 men. 

Georgia, , ' 

Florida, J 







/th district. 




Alabama, 


J 






Mississippi, 
Louisiana, 




- 8,800 men.. 


Tennessee, 










8th district. 




Arkansas, 
Missouri, 


) 




- 2,000 mea. 


Iowa, 


) 


9th district. 




Kentucky, 
lUinois, 


\ 




- 7,400 meas. 


Indiana, 


) 


10th district. 




Ohio, 
Michigan, 


\ 




- 9,200 m€2»; 



Wisconsin, 



* Vide Doc. Rep. Ne. 585, p. 24—25. 



The 17th section is in these words : 

" That the President of the United States be authorized to call forth and assemble such num- 
bers of the active force of the militia, at such places within their respective districts, and at such 
times, not exceeding twice, nor days in the same year, as he may deem necessary ; and 

during such period, including the time when going to and returning from the place of rendezvous, 
they shall be deemed in the seivice of the United Stales, and subject to such regulations as the 
President may think proper to adopt for their instruction, discipline, and improvement in viiLi- 
iary knowledge." 

Now, if the Avords, " such places within their respective districts,^'' mean '' such 
places within their respective States, ^^ then we admit that the power of the President 
to call forth and assemble the active force, " is restricted to assembling the militia of 
each State within its own territorial Umits." But so long as the word "districts" 
means " districts," and not " States," and so long as Delaware, Maryland, District of 
Columbia, and Virginia, form one of the ten ''districts" into which the territory of the 
United States is to be divided, we shall insist that the power of the President to call 
out this militia "was not restricted to assembhng the militia of each State within its 
own territorial limits," and that '' the militia of western Virginia may be ordered to 
the banks of the Delaware and shores of the Chesapeake," &c, "/or instructio7i, dis- 
cipline, and improvement in military knoxcledge.'''' 

The Secretary, in his explanatory letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, says : " Soldiers must be taught their duties in garrison and in the 
field in marching and encamping, in the police and miUtary administration of an army. 
The instruction so essential, and without which it is impossible to form the soldier, 
cannot be given in a day's training by ofhcers nearly "as ignorant of these branches of 
service as the men themselves — I speak of the generahty of the oflfieers. It must be 
imparted by veteran and skilful officers in garrison and in camp to men and officers 
alike." How can this be done if " each battahon is assembled within its own State, and 
as nearly as practicable in the centre of its district?" 

In the heads set forth in his November report, he says: " They are to be so drilled 
and stationed as to be ready to take their place in the ranks in defending the country, 
■whenever called upon to oppose the enemy or repel the invader." Will this be effect- 
ed by Culling out the battalions at the centre of their own districts, and mustering there 
for ten or eves thirty day^ in the year? 

We will here take occasion to mention another equally extraordinary attempt to es- 
cape from the consequences of the proposal to invest the President with this unconsti- 
tutional power. 

The sage chairman in the letter already quoted, says: " The interpretation of ' the 
territory of the United States,' is by some understood to mean the public lands and the 
District of Columbia, and cannot embrace the limits of the several States, unless there 
be a misconstruction of the letter of the Constitution, which declares 'a Avell regulated 
militia as being necessarv to the security of a free State.' " 

Now, here is a gentle hint to the Secretary that he may get out of the scrape by say- 
ing, that he meant to divide " the public lands and the District of Columbia" into ten 
military districts, for the convenience of instructing his active and sedentary force in 
military knowledge; that of these ten districts, thus carved out of ''the public lands 
and the District of Columbia," Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, should be squeezed 
into the District of Columbia, and form one from which should be obtained 20.800 men, 
active and sedentary ; leaving the unsold and unsettled public lands to be cut up into 
the remaining nine districts, into Avhich the other twenty-three States and three Ter- 
ritories should be squeezed, and furnish the remaining 179.200 actives and sedentaries. 
To this sage suggestion the Secretary gravely rephes, that the words "territory of the 
United States," as used by him, did not mean the public lands and poor persecuted Dis- 
trict of Columbia, but "the area embraced by the geographical boundaries of the 
whole confederacy." 

Reader, we are not jesting nor exaggerating. If you doubt our" word, read the letters ; 
they cover only three pages of the document referred to. Whether the Secretary has 
done better for himself than the friendly chairman wished to do for him, admits of 
question.* 

* In Knickerbocker's history of New York, we read of a tavern-keeper who persuaded his 
miest that he had conjured a quart of wine into a pint decanter, and charged him accordingly. 
The chairman's estimate of the Secretary's powers of condensation, vastly exceeded the conju- 
ration of our Boniface. Seriously, what shall we think of the chairman's estimate of the pliancy 
of the Secretary, and the gullibility of the people when he ventured on this suggestion. 



We return from this digression to the correspondence. Before we proceed to its 
examination, it is proper that we should understand the real question at issue. That 
question is not whether Mr. Van Buren had any hand in drawing up the paper which 
was transmitted by the Secretary to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, de- 
signated by the Secretary as "the plan reported to Congress," or ever saw it; but 
whether Mr. Van Buren at any time before or after it was transmitted, approved of 
all or any of the monstrous principles which it involves ; and if not all, what did he 
approve and what disapprove? It will be observed that ample time was given for the 
expression of this approval or disapproval. The details were called for by a resolution 
of the House on the 9th March ; they were communicated on the 20th ; were publish- 
ed in the newspapers ; amongst others, in the Globe, (which we presume Mr. Van 
Buren must have read ;) were noticed in the journal of the House, a copy of which is 
daily put in his hands; produced the excitement already mentioned, and, as his friends 
said, lost the Virginia election. 

Mr. Ritchie's feeler was not published until day of May,* and Mr. Poinsett's letter 
was not written until the 5th, nor published until the 12th day of June. During this 
interval, the Secretary and the President were inhabitants of the same city, sat at the 
same council board, and if yve arc correctly informed were, and continue to be, on 
terms of peculiar intimacy and friendship. Knowing as we do the real question at 
issue, and the ample power of the witness to speak directly to that question, let us see 
what he has said : 

" The President concurred with me in opinion, with regard to the importance of re- 
organizing the militia at this time ; but had no agency in preparing the plan reported 
to Congress, and no previous knowledge of its details. It was prepared as has already 
been stated, at the request of a committee of the House of Representatives expressed 
at the close of the last session, and reported to this Congress upon a call of the House, 
made directly upon the Secretary of War, and as is usual in all such cases, sent to that 
body without being previously submitted to the President; he, therefore, had nothing 
to do with it." The remainder of his letter is a defence of the scheme. Not one word 
is to be found which warrants the inference that Mr. Van Buren did not, when he com- 
posed his message of December last, and when Mr. Poinsett's letter to Mr. Ritchie 
was written, approve of the plan, details and all. The language of the Secretary is 
very guarded. He ha4 in his report of the 30th November, 1839, furnished the Presi- 
dent with the heads of his plan, and further said that he had the details prepared and 
ready to submit to him. He further suggested, and the President warmly seconded 
the suggestion, that the "details" necessary to give body and limbs to the gorgon, 
Avith a few exceptions, should not be submitted to Congress, but left to the President. 
Congress, after about ten weeks of consideration, expressed some curiosity to see the 
details, and on the 9lh March called for them. The Secretary responded to the call 
on the 20th, taking eleven days to prepare his answer. Now, it is to be remarked, that 
he cautiously refers to "the plan reported to Congress," as the one iuAvhich the Presi- 
dent had no agency in preparing. '■ //," he says, (that is, " the plan reported to Con- 
gress") "was sent to that body without being previously cubraitted to the President; 
he, therefore, had nothing to do with it." The Secretary further informs us, that this 
was done because the call was made directly upon the Secretary of War, and it is 
usual '•'in all such cases" not to submit the reply to the President. We shall show 
that this is an error, and produce both the Secretary and the President as witnesses to 
prove it. We shall also show, that so far from the statement that the President con- 
curred with the Secretary in opinion, with regard to the importance of re-organizing 
the militia, that the President led the way, and was the first to suggest the most ob- 
jectionable features in the '-plan reported to Congress;" and we Avill also show other 
striking inaccuracies in the Secretary's letter. 

If the people of the United States, upon the trial of this great question, enjoyed the 
ri^ht which the lav/ secures to parties to the most trivial controversy, we would put to 
this witness a few interrogatories, Avhich Avould point his attention to the real question 
at issue, and Ave doubt not that his ansAA^ers would shift the burden from his own shoul- 
ders, on which his chivalrous devotion has placed it, to that of his leader and com- 
mander, the President. At least, he Avould haA^e to take his full share of it. But as 
Ave have not the benefit of a cross-examination, A\^e must resort to circumstanees, from 
which inferences may be rationally drawn, and such direct proofs as Ave may be able 

* We have not the No. of the Enquirer by us, nor have we access to a file of that paper. We^ 
know, however, the feeler was in an Enquirer published during the month of May. We think, 
the latter part of May. 



to find touching the fact to which this witness has not testified, to wit : the Presi- 
dent's approval of the principles of the Secretary's plan. 

The first circumstance to which we invite attention, is that the skilful secretary of 
the Central Van Buren Committee, when professing a desire to know Mr. Van Bu- 
ren's views on this important matter, one which threatened to defeat his election, in- 
stead of applying to Mr. Van Buien himself, applied to his Secretary. Why was this- 
done ? 

Surely Mr. Van Buren, although filling the exalted station of President of this great 
Republic, would not have refused to answer a civil question from a brother democrat. 
Especially when an answer, in the Avay his brother democrat wished him to answer, 
Ayould contribute greatly to keep him in his high office. Why not, then, put the ques- 
tion plump and fiat to the President himself — Do you now, or did you ever approve 
of this plan? If nay, please point out the difference between the heads which you so 
strongly recommended and these details ? Why interrogate the man wnen the mas- 
ter was at hand? A great deal-had been said about Gen. Harrison getting his friend 
Gwinn, who is not half as good a writer as himself, to answer one, out of a thousand 
letters. Why place Mr. Van Buren in the same predicament? No other answer can 
be given, than that Mr. Van Buren could not with truth give such a reply as wouhl 
satisfy the people of the United States, and would not tie his hands upon a measure 
which he has pressed upon Congress at every regular session since his election.* 

We are told by the Secretary that Congress, ''shortly before the close of the, last 
session ('38 — 9) expressed an opinion that the country was exposed to the hazard of 
being involved in war," and reposed "a trust and confidence in the President, unpa- 
ralleled in the history of our Republic," — that the militia was first to be looked to 
as the means of meeting the war if it should come, and that " the committee on the 
militia of the House of Representatives required him, through their chairman, to pre- 
pare a plan for the better organizaiion of the militia of the United States." 

He also tells us in his annual report of November last, that at ''the close of the last 
session," the President felt "solicitude on the subject of the defences of the country 
on our maritime frontier." It appears, also, from the proceedings of the Senate, that 
on the 2(1 March a resolution was adopted on motion of Mr. Benton, requesting 
the President "to cause to be laid before the Senate, at* the commencement 
of the next session, reports upon the military and naval defences of the country." His 
attention is pointed to the " fortifications, their armament," &c. &c. &c. information 
as to all which is asked, " with any other information or suggestions which the Presi- 
dent may deem necessary to communicate to Congress, in order to exhibit a full view 
of what is necessary to be done, and the probable cost thereof, to place the United 
States in a proper state of defence, by land and water, and on each of the four great 
lines of defence which her frontiers present." 

We are further told by the Secretary in his letter, that ''no sooner had Congress 
adjourned, than the President seHs/ii/e o///ie responsibilities imposed upon him by 
this act, and anxious alike to justify the confidence of Congress and discharge his duty 
to the nation, called upon the War and Navy Departments to furnish him with state- 
ments showing the condition of the defences of {he country," — that ''called by the 
voice of Congress to defend the country," ''it became the duly of the Executive to 
seek to organize and render cflicient the only means of defence at hand," the militia. 

The faithful Secretary labored upon his part of the task from early in March to the 
last of November. Did he, during this interval, have no conversation with the Presi- 
dent about the organization of '' the only means of defence at hand? Did he remaiu 
silent upon this important topic at all the cabinet meetings, and dinner and evening 
parties at which they met? Did the President's solicitude and sensibility of the re- 
sponsibilities imposed upon him all evaporate ? Did he forget, all of a sudden, that it 
was his duty to oversee, and that he was responsible for the entire action of the Exe- 
cutive Department ? Did his duties cease when he called upon the War and Navy 
Departments to furnish statements? And was it thus that he sought to repay the 
''trust and confidence, unparalled in the history of our republic," reposed in him by 
Congress ? 

♦Since the above was written, the President's answer to the interrogatories propounded by 
Messrs. Gary and others, has been published, it fully sustains our argument. If it had been 
difi'erent, it would have coaiie too late. After the answer of his Secretary had failed to satisfy the 
people, and his election was jeoparded by the measure, it would be quite too late to clear his skirts 
of it by a mere denial, contradicted as it would be by circumstances amounting to full proof But 
he has done no such thintr. 



9 

When, on the 30th November, the Secretary's Report was placed in his hands, giv- 
-ing the heads of a plan which he intended in his Message '-strongly" to recommend 
to Congress— and informing him that tlie details were all drawn out, ready to be sub- 
mitted to him— did he permit this Report to lie on his table from the 30th November to 
24th December, without inspecting the details of the novel and monstrous system 
which he was about to give his sanction to, when half an hour's reading Avould put 
him in full possession of them? 

If these questions are answered in a way to relieve Mr. Van Buren from participa- 
tion in the Secretary's plan, he is totally unfit for his office. But they cannot be so 
answered. No man who has five grains of understanding, and one grain of candor, 
will so answer them. 

This notable plan was attacked, in February, by Mr. Rives, subsequently by Col. 
Campbell, and others, and threatened disaster to the party. After all this, the details 
were called for by Congress, and would, of course, be published. If the paper contain- 
ing them xyas not shown to the President before it was sent to Congress, it could only- 
have been because he knew enough about them before. And here we will remark, 
that the reason given by the Secretary for sending in his Report to Congress without 
previously submitting it to the President, is not true in point of fact: and we prove 
our assertion by his own letter. In that production, he says, that "immediately after 
the passage of "that act, (meaning that which conferred such extraordinary powers on 
the President) (he Committee on the Militia of the House of Representatives required 
me, through their Chairman, to prepare a plan for the better organization of the militia 
of the United States." Now, he responded to that call by a Report to the President, 
and never intended to answer in any other way — and never would but for the resolu- 
tion of the House, passed more than three months after his Report. So far from re- 
porting his details, in pursuance of the call of the Chairman of the Committee, he, in 
Jiis Report to the President, proposed that Congress should have nothmg to do with 
them, but that they should be "left to regulation;" in other words, to Executive 
legislation. 

We will detain you with one or two other instances of presumptive evidence. 

So much of the President's Message as related to this subject, was referred to the 
Standing Committees on the Militia, in both Houses. They did not report until long 
after the commotion which we have alluded to, and after the notable attempt of Mr. 
Ritchie to cover the President's retreat. No. We are mistaken— v>^e do the President 
injustice. He never has retreated ; and, if we are to judge of him by his perseverance 
and success in carrying his Sub-treasury scheme, he never will abandon this measure. 
These reports, we say, were made after it was fully shewn that the proposed organiza- 
tion of the militia, or, rather, plan for a standing army, was doing great injury to the 
party, and when it was manifest that, in Virginia, if not in the whole Union, their suc- 
cess would be greatly advanced by satisfactory proof that the President disapproved of 
it. Something like such proof would have been afforded if these Committees had 
condemned the scheme in decided terms, and any of those members who are known 
. to possess the confidence of the President had risen in their places and declared that 
the President had not given it his sanction. Nothing, certainly would have been easier 
than for the President to have furnished this proof. The slightest hint, the slightest 
whisper would have been sufficient. W"e aver, most confidently, that there is not one 
word in these reports, nor was one word uttered by any member of Congress, from- 
which the slightest inference can be drawn, that this scheme had not the sanction of 
the President. So far from it, the reports consist principally of disjointed recitals of 
former plans for organizing the militia, feeble attacks upon General Harrison, and lame 
apologies for Mr. Poinsett^and his plan. Not one word of condemnation of the out- 
rageo'us violations of the Constitution in proposing to call the militia into the service 
of the United States, and place them under the command of the President and the offi- 
cers of the regular army for training ; and, instead of training them under the author- 
ity of the States, "according to the discipline prescribed by Congress," training them 
under the authority of the United States, according to the discipline prescribed by the 
President. Nothing of the anomaly of training the militia by substitute. Nothing of 
the obvious design to embody two hundred thousand mercenaries, and place them 
under the command of the President. 

Again. If the doctrine of Gen. Jackson is to be reversed— if, instead of the President 
being responsible for the entire action of the Executive Department, the maxim of the 
British government is to be substituted, that the king can do no wrong, but the minis- 
ter must answer, even with his head,'why is the offending and responsible minister 
retained in office? Why does he yet retain the confidence which he has so grossly 



10 

abused? Why does he yet sit at the council-board? Why does he yet wield the 
military arm of the nation ? Why is he yet the inmate of the palace, and the bosom- 
friend of the President? Why does he yet clothe himself "in purple and fine linen," 
at the expense of the people whom he would make slaves? We will answer these 
questions by furnishing direct proof that the scheme is all the President's — that it is 
the offspring of his teeming brain, and that the Secretary has not even borne the part 
of wet-nurse. 

To enable us to see the points of resemblance between the plan called Mr. Poin- 
sett's and that originated by Mr. Van Buren, and to appreciate the objections to both, 
it is necessary to have definite notions of a standing army and militia, as those terms 
apply to our peculiar political system. 

By a standing army, as contradistinguished from otir militia, we understand a per- 
manent body of men, armed and equipped for war, instructed in military tactics, sub- 
dued by discipline to implicit obedience, the sole duty of a soldier — paid by the gov- 
ernment of the United States, and commanded by the President. There is another 
characteristic of an army, which must be borne in mind. Where voluntary enlistment 
is resorted to, the ranks are filled with the idle and the profligate — men who nave no ties 
to society; without property, without families, and careless for the future, they love 
only the hand that feeds them, and fear nothing but their commanders. Such are the 
instruments by which the monarchies and despotisms of the old world are sustained — 
such the means by Avhich the millions of human beings who crouch at the frown and 
tremble under the lash of the despots of Europe, Asia and Africa, are kept in subjec 
tion. Organization, military skill, arms, treasure, on the side of the despot — on that of 
the slaves, countless numbers, indeed, but nothing more. Unarmed, destitute of mili- 
tary knowledge, without organization, and without money, resistance would but add to 
their calamities. Little wonder, then, that they bow the neck to the yoke, and thank 
God and their king that they are permitted to live. A late traveller, our fellow-citizen, 
Stephens, gives a conversation with an Arab, one of the subjects of the Pacha of 
Egypt, which throws more light upon this subject than a thousand disquisitions. The 
Arabs are a brave and martial race of men. Under the successors of Mahomet, they 
conquered Egypt, but are now held in subjection by the Turks, Avho constitute a very 
small portion of the population. The Pacha has, however, a powerful standing army, 
composed in part of Arabs, but subdued by discipline to implicit obedience. Speaking 
of the tyranny of the government, and the hopeless condition of the people, our Arab 
.said — 

"If one-fourth of them (the Arabs of Egypt) owned a musket, one charge of pow- 
der, and one ball, before morning there would not be a Turk in Egypt."* 
For want of even these, the Arab is a slave^ and the Turk a master. 
The population of Russia exceeds fifty millions — her army amounts to about one 
million — and this mighty mass of human beings obey the will of one man. With a 
vastly inferior force. Great Britain holds in subjection one hundred millions of Asia- 
tics, and extends her giant limbs into the four quarters of the globe. Such are the na- 
ture and efl'ects of standing armies. 

As, from the nature and present condition of the human race, no nation can enjoy 
uninterrupted peace, a military force, of some description, is indispensable ; and the 
wisdom of patriots and statesmen has been taxed to devise one which will be sufficient 
for defence and without danger to liberty. The wise and patriotic framers of our State 
and Federal Constitutions have hit upon the happy medium, which, if it be not de- 
parted from, will, as long as we are a united people, with our pecuharly favorable geo- 
graphical position, secure to us and our latest posterity the blessings of liberty and 
peacf. 

This happy medium gives to the General Government a moderate permanent force,, 
sufficient to garrison our forts, and form a nucleus for an army adequate to the emer- 
gencies of war, and places the chief reliance for the enforcement of the laws, the pre- 
servation of order, and resistance to the first burst of war, upon the militia, and gives 
that militia to the States. Its officers are to be appointed by the States — it is to be 
trained under the authority of the States — and neither the President, nor Congress, nor 
any officer of the General Government, has an iota of power over it, save only in time 
of actual invasion, rebellion, or resistance to the laws. For the sake of unifonnity, 
Congress prescribes the discipline in which they are to be instructed. The militia are 
not to be used as the means of conquest, but defence only — not to invade others, but 
drive the invader from our own borders. 



* Stephen's Travels, vol. 1, p. 138. 



11 

Instead of being composed of the idle and dissolute, men upon whom society has 
no ties, the ranks are filled by substantial citizens; instead of being reduced to that 
abject obedience which is the chief merit of a mere soldier, the men are subject to 
no more restraint than is sufficient for a moderate degree of instruction ; war is not 
their trade ; after a brief parade, sufficient to keep alive a military spirit, and give some 
notion of the first rudiment? of tactics, they return to their ordinary employment and 
the bosom of their families. Those who have hitherto turned their attention to this 
subject, difler in the degree of instruction and discipline which it is necessary to im- 
part to the militia. Military men (as might be expected) have favored a high stand- 
ard, but none, save Mr. Van Buren, have ever dreamed of changing the essential 
character of the militia. No one but he has proposed to leave the great body of our 
citizens an unorganized, uninstructed, and unarmed, mass, and substitute a body of 
volunteers which must, and will, be drawn from the dregs of the People. He alone 
has dared to propose to take the militia from the States and transfer them to the United 
States, in other wordSj to himself; and by " thoroughly drilling them'- by his officers 
teach them 'Hhe duty of obedience,'''' as that duty is understood by military men.* So 
long as the system, so wisely framed by our ancestors, shall be left untouched ; so long 
as our reliance shall be on the citizen soldier, and that citizen soldier shall belong to 
the States, and the power of the General Government and the elective monarch at its 
head, shall be limited to such a regular force as we have described, the President may 
seize the public treasure, with it he may corrupt the nation, but if there be wisdom and 
honesty enough left to withhold from him a strong military force he never can conquer 
our liberties. Let us return to Mr. Van Buren and see how far his plans for a " militia 
force" quadrates with the genius of our institutions, the Constitution of the United 
States, and the safety and preservation of our liberties. 

Mr. Van Buren first met the Congress of the United States at the special session 
of 1837. That sessiou was called for the single purpose of passing the sub-Treasury 
bill. His message is, therefore, principally occupied with that and kindred subjects. 
During that session, however, the Senate, on motion of Mr. Linn, adopted a resolu- 
tion calling on the Secretary of War (not the President) for information to be s.'\.yen 
to the Senate^ early at the next session, in regard to the defence and protection of the 
western frontier, &c. &c. On the 30th December following, the Secretary responded 
to this call, not hy a report to the Senate never communicated to the President as he 
says in his letter to Mr. Ritchie was the practice in all such, cases ; for we learn from 
the message of the President that he had, as in duty bound, superintended the Secre- 
tary when he was preparing his reply to the call of the Senate. In that message, Avhich 
preceded the Secretary's report by twenty-five days, he speaks of the report as one 
which| " '!r?7Z 6e" submitted, and recommends the plan for defending the western frontier 
as one which may be advantageously adopted " as a general arrangement of the whole 
militia of the United States." 

In that report the Secretary (after stating, in detail, the military works and regular 
troops necessary for the defence of the western frontier) says : " I would recommendj 
as an important auxiliary to this system of defence, the organization of a sufficient 

* If any doubt remained of Mr. Van Buren's views on this point it would be removed by his 
late letter to Mr. Gary and others. In that letter he says " Nor is it believed that they would in 
general, be properly instructed and disciplined, unless they are called out and received into the 
service of the United States ;" whether this can be done without violatinjr the Constitution he 
thinks doubtful. " It is (says he) but lately that my attention has been particularly drawn to 
this subject ; and as there is no doubt that the great men to whom I have alluded ( JeiTcrson and 
Jackson, &c.) contemplated an organization of the militia, and provisions for its better instruc- 
tion, embracing, substantially, the principles contained in Mr. Poinsett's plan, (an assertion 
which we utterly deny and will disprove,) it becomes me in the face of so much authority to hes- 
itate before I pronounce definitively upon its constitutionality. I shall, I am confident, in the 
opinion of all candid minds, but perform my duty by refraining to do so until it becomes necessary 
to act officially in the matter. In the mean time I shall content myrelf with saying that the in- 
clination of my mind is that the desired measure cannot be safely accomplished in the form pro- 
posed under the Federal Constitution as it now stands." Now if there be a proposition which 
admits of neither doubt nor hesi'ancy, it is that the power to train and command the militia is 
reserved to the States by the Federal Constitution as it now stands, and that they can only be 
called out by Congress and placed in the seivice of the United States, and, by consequence, under 
the command of the President, in the three specified cases to execute the laws, suppi-ess insurrec- 
tion, and repel invasion. Upon this vital provision of the federal compact, one without which 
the States would soon cease to exist, even in name, the President hesitates and doubts, and re- 
serves himself until it shall become necessary to act officiallv ! 



12 

-volunteer force, to be raised in each of the frontier States ; the men to be mustered 
into service for a certain term of time, the officers to be appointed according to their 
State laws, and to be instructed a certain number of days m each year by the regular 
•officers of the United States army, at the posts within the States, and to receive pay 
during that period. In this manner a sufficient corps of officers may be created, and 
a body of volunteers be at hand to march to the succor of the border settlers, and 
repel the invaders, whenever they are called upon by the proper authority." This 
plan of the Secretary's was a bona Jide scheme for the defence of the western fron- 
tier. He proposed forts and garrisons, and a kind of minute men to be raised in the 
frontier States as an auxiliary force. The only difference between them and the troops 
Itt garrison was the mode of appointing the officers, and the period of service ; one being 
on constant duty, whilst the others, although "mustered into service" were only put 
on acutual duty occasionally, as the exigencies of the country might require. They 
-were soldiers, as contradistinguished from militia, and, therefore properly placed under 
die command of the officers of the regular army. The word militia is not to be found 
in. the report. There was, therefore, no violation of the Constitution intended or com- 
mitted. But if it be insisted that from the mode of appointing the officers it should be 
'slewed as a militia force, still there was no violation of the Constitution, because they 
-were " mustered into service," not for the mere purposes of " drill," but to repel appre- 
hended invasion from the Indians. It was then, we say, a bo7ia fide plan for defend- 
ing the western frontier, and neither was intended to be, nor could be, used as a mask 
for a standing army, under the pretence of organizing the militia. It is to the Presi- 
dent that we are indebted for the proposal to engraft this plan upon the militia, and 
malce it coextensive with the United States. His sagacious eye saw, at a glance, how 
easy it would be, unperceived by the People, to build up a standing army of mercena- 
ries on the small foundation of the Secretary's plan. In his message, which, as we 
liave said, preceded this report by tAventy-five days, having called the attention of Con- 
fess to the subject of the militia he says: " The provision of the Constitution that 
renders it necessary to adopt a uniform system of organization for the militia through- 
CJQt the United States, presents an insurmountable obstacle to an efficient arrange- 
aaaent by the classification heretofore proposed, and I invite vour attention to the plan 
'which xcilt b^ submitted, by the Secretary of War, for the organization of volunteer 
^scoips, and the instruction of .militia officers, as more simple and practicable, if not 
equally advantageous as a general arrangement of the whole militia of the United 
jStates." Adopt this recommendation, take the plan of the Secretary for raising volun- 
teers, and mustering them into the service of the United States, substitute it for " the 
■cliassification heretofore proposecV''* '' as a general arrangement for the whole mili- 
tia of the United States " and you have the substance of the plan for organizing the 
Tnyitia. miscalled Mr. Poinsett's, with most of its objectionable details. Instead of 
making the citizen the defender of his own hearth, and protector of his own liberties, 
iche great body of the People are to be left an unorganized mass. " The classification 
lieretofore proposed" is to be yielded, and the defence of the country is to be entrusted 
to volunteers mustered into the seivice of the United States in time of peace and 
quiet, thereby subjected to the rules and articles of war, paid by the United States, 
xsrithdrawn from the States and placed under the command of the President, and such 
jofiicers of the regular army as he may put over them. The plan certainly deserves 
sCke praise of simplicity and efficiency, which he bestows upon it. Nothing is more 
jamjile than to enlist "volunteers" and make soldiers of them by the drill sergeant; 
mothing more efficient than trained bands of mercenaries. 

On the 2Sth of November, 1838. a year after the President's suggestion, the Secre- 
tary made his second annual report. It is addressed to the President, and, like the 
other, had doubtless, been prepared under his supervision. He again recommends 
the plan of frontier defence contained in his former report, and, for the first time, uses 
ibe word " militia" in connexion with that plan, and adopts the President's suggestion 
of extending it ''so as to embrace the whole militia of the United States." It is then 
ihat he first intimates that " the whole militia of the United States will be found too 
Biiwieldy a body to be successfully organized at once by any plan that can be devised, 
and for some time to come ;"t thus reiterating the President's objection to the effi- 

* He is still opposed to the plan of " classification," and, of course, adheres to his volunteers. 
(See his late letter.) 

i The President, in his late letter, adheres to this feature also ; he thinks the militia too nu- 
merous, and is in favor of training two hundred thousand, and leaving the mass to train theav- 
:;aelves. 



13 

<;iency of aa '• arrangement by the classification heretofore proposed." He proposes to 
begin by " enrolling twenty thousand men, taken from among the inhabitants and set- 
tlers of the frontier, and the country around the permanent stations in the interior," 
and " if it work well " extend it " so as to embrace the whole militia of the United 
States." We give the entire passage. 

" I have seen no reason to change my views as to the proper organization of the 
militia or volunteer force, to serve as auxiliaries to the system proposed for the defence 
of the maritime and inland frontier. It would, doubtless, be desirable to adopt some 
uniform system of organization, which would render effective the whole militia of the 
United States ; but no plan has yet been suggested that can be carried into effect 
throughout the whole of our extensive country. That which appears to present the 
greatest advantages, and has been frequently pressed upon the attention of Congress 
by my predecessors in office, appears to me to be only applicable to the thickly-settled 
portions of our country ; for, if it were attempted to divide the militia into classes, in 
some parts of our Southern country, and on our borders, where their services are most 
likely to be required, it would be found difficult to assemble a single company of the 
junior class within a space of one hundred miles. It is to be feared that the whole 
militia of the United States will be found too unwieldy a body to be successfully or- 
ganized at once by any plan that can b i devised — and for some time to come. It had 
better be left to the direction of the several States, adopting only a uniform armament 
and uniform drill, until a system be introduced on the frontiers which may be gra- 
dually extended over the whole country. A commencement may be made by enroll- 
ing twenty thousand men, taken from among the inhabitants and settlers of the 
frontier and the country around the permanent stations in the interior. Six conse- 
cutive days in the year would be sufficient for their drill, provided the commissioned 
and non-commissioned offi^cers be assembled at the nearest military post for the term 
of thirty days in the year. During the time the privates and officers are in .service, 
they should receive the pay and rations of soldiers and officers of the army of the same 
grade respectively. These forces will not be withdrawn from the States where they 
are raised, and may be called into service by the Governor, upon the requisition of the 
President. In this manner would be formed a well-disciplined body of militia, capa- 
ble of acting as an auxiliary force both to the regulars stationed in the four points above 
designated, and to the garrisons stationed in the maritime and frontier fortresses, and 
a system commenced, which, if it worJi well, may gradually be extended so as to 
embrace the whole militia of the United States." 

In his annual Message of the 4th December, 1838, which was accompanied by the 
above Report, the President says, '' I would again call to your notice the subjects con- 
nected with, and essential to, the military defences of the country, which were sub- 
mitted to you at the last session, but which were not acted upon, as is supposed, for 
want of time. The most important of them is the organization of the militia on the 
maritime and inland frontiers. This measure is deemed important, as it is believed 
that it will furnish an effective volunteer force in aid of the regular army, and may 
form the basis of a general system of organization for the entire militia of the 
United States." 

Congress still manifested no disposition to give to the President this entermg wedge 
to an army of volunteers as a substitute for the militia. As the session drew to a close, 
we learn from the Secretary's last Report that the President felt " solicitude" on the 
subject, and the military gentlemen of the two Houses were set in motion. Colonel 
Benton introduced his resolution in the Senate, and the Militia Committee of the 
House, through their Chairman, requested the Secretary to go to work on a plan for 
organizing the militia. Impatient of the delay which had alreadv taken place, and 
strong in the certainty of the passage of the Sub-Treasury bill, which would give him 
the command of the purse of the nation, a bolder line of tactics was adopted, and, in- 
stead of commencing with enrolling twenty thousand men on the frontiers, and gradu- 
ally extending the system to the " entire militia of the United States," the whole plan 
is brought out at once, and Congress is asked, by the President, to authorize the rais- 
ing of two hundred thousand "recruits," (we use the language of the Report) and to 
"j?.r by law" the " manner of enrollment, the number of days of service, and the rate 
of compensation," and leave the details to " regulation," that is, to be "fixed" by the 
President!!! This demand is referred to the appropriate Committees, and, after a 
lapse of three months, a plan of the " details" which the President proposed to reserve 
for himself, is called for and communicated to the House. These details carry out the 
very plan suggested by the President as far back as December, 1837, and the nation is 
-told by his supporters that he is not responsible for them ! ! ! 



14 

If there be any remaining doubt of the identity of the plan first [recommended by 
the President, in 1837, again piessed upon Congress, in 1838, with that the heads of 
which are set forth in the Report of the Secretary of War, of 30th December, 1839, 
and a third time strongly recommended by the President on 24th December of that 
year, an article v/hich appeared in the Globe of the 2nd January, 1840, must remove 
that doubt. That familiar of the palace, and organ of the President, recognised his 
old acquaintance at the first glance. The faithful editors had, as in duty bound, given 
the weight of their endorsement to the President's recommendations of 1837 and 1838; 
and, speaking of the plan set forth in the Secretary's Report of November, 1839, then 
recently sent to Congress, with the President's " strong" recommendation, they say : 
'' This document does the author much credit. It recommends a new organization of 
the militia, and adopts the plan of classification which we long since iirged upon Con- 
gress^ It was «ew, indeed, to our militia system, but an old acquaintance and friend 
of the Globe. 

Having traced this scheme to the President himself, it cannot be necessary to dwell 
on the remaining propositions which we have undertaken to make good. We Avill, 
however, redeem our pledge. 

We said we would prove that it was sustained and lauded by his supporters, until 
the People condemned it. Now for the proof The last Report of the Secretary of 
War was transmitted to Congress by the President, on the 24th December, 1839. A 
synopsis of the proposed plan for organizing the militia was published in the New York 
Journal of Commerce, with strong commendations. This article was republished in 
the Globe of the 2nd January, 1840, accompanied by the following editorial, part of 
which we have already quoted : 

" The Report of the Secretary of War. — This document does the author much 
credit. It recommends a new organization of the militia, and adopts the plan of classi- 
fication, which we long since urged upon the attention of Congress. The United 
States to be divided into eight military districts — each district to have an active force 
of 12,500, and an equal number of reserve — the total making 25,000. These troops to 
he thoroughly drilled, and continue eight years in service— four in the active ser- 
vice, and four in the reserve : at the expiration of eight years to be exempted from, 
'military duly, except in cases of invasion or imminent peril. One-fourth of the ac- 
tive to pass annually into the reserve, and new recruits to supply their places — one- 
fourth to retire annually from service. This corps is to be embodied, as the national 
guard, and receive pay, and will constitute one-seventh of the militia of the United 
States. The other six-sevenths will have no military duty to perform, only to be mus- 
tered at long and stated intervals." 

Mr. Rives attacked the scheme in February. He was assailed in the Richmond 
Enquirer by a writer who is known to fill a public office in Washington. The denun- 
ciation of this measure by the Whigs, was every where, by the Van Buren party, 
called a " humbug," — their objections to the novel and alarming features of the scheme 
were stigmatized as shameless attempts to deceive the people. At length Mr. Poin- 
sett's details were published — they were exposed, as we have already said, by Col. 
Campbell. In the Globe of the 27th April, that gentleman was assailed in the usual 
style of that print. The article commences thus : 

"The Militia Bill. — A recent letter from John Campbell, late Treasurer of the 
United States, (out of whom the Whigs, strangely, as it seems to us, yet suppose that 
something can be made) contains an allusion to that measure strikingly illustrative of 
the shameful uses which have been made of the subject in the recent elections in Vir- 
ginia, and of the scandalous attempts to deceive the People." 

This was more than a month after Mr. Poinsett's details were sent to Congress. 

On the 1st May, another editorial article, filling more than a column, .is devoted to a 
defence of the plan ; and others of similar character may be found in the same print. 
One is republished in the Enquirer of May 8th— the editor had not then conceived the 
necessity of a retreat. It begins thus : 

"We would call attention to the following extract from the address of the Demo- 
cratic Committee for the County of Columbia, in Ohio. The extract has particular 
reference to the outcry of the Feds against the military scheme of the Secretary of 
War— plainly showing it to be another attempt on their part to delude the people by a 
senseless clamor.'''' 

The extract to which the attention of the readers of the Globe is called, begins th us 
"Another subject which demands our notice, and which, for the last six raonthsp 



15 

has been the theme of Federal denunciation and patriotic horror, arises out of the pro- 
position of the Secretary of War, Mr. Poinsett, that Congress should provide for the 
more effectual organization of the militia." 

It then goes on to defend it. The following endorsement of the bill is taken from a 
New Orleans Van Buren paper, the " New Orleans Times :" 

" Standing Army. — We are convinced that nothing could so much endear the Ad- 
, ministration of Mr. Van Buren to the people of Louisiana as the project of the Secre- 
tary of War to classify and organize the militia of the whole Union, after an effective 
and uniform plan ; and nothing could render the British Whigs so odious as their fool- 
ish attempts to misrepresent it, and convert it into a scheme for raising a standing 
army. The British Whig newspapers are so much degraded in the public eye, that 
the accusation would not be believed even if it were true." 

Another : 

'' The Standing Army. — The foolish Whigs will never have done with their hum- 
hugs, even after the woful experience they have had of their inevitable tendency to 
recoil upon themselves. They are now making a labored effort to turn Mr. Poinsett's 
able and effective plan of organizing the militia of the United States into a scheme for 
raising a standing army of two hundred thousand men. The people of Louisiana will 
spurn this attempt to misrepresent a. judicious organization of the militia. They 
know what the common militia is, and they know what it ought to be. But we shall 
show, in due time, that Mr. Harrision supported a much more objectionable plan of 
militia organization than that of Mr. Poinsett." 

The Van Buren paper recently established in our own village, followed the lead of 
the Globe. Various articles may be referred to in proof of this. We will select two 
from that paper of 9th May, before the retreat was sounded. On the 1st page, we find 
a long article in defence of Mr. Poinsett's plan, repubhshed from the " Valley Star." 
Its title is, " The great Whig Humbug about the Standing Army exploded," — and 
proceeds — 

'' Ever siace the appearance of Mr. Rives' letter, avowing his determination to sus- 
tain Gen. Harrison for the Presidency, the whole land has been ringing with the cry 
of a "standing army." Whig orators and Whig electioneerers have been traversing 
the country in all directions, calling upon the people to oppose the re-election of Mr. 
Van Buren. The recommendation of the President and the Secretary of War, urging 
upon Congress the reorganization of the militia, has been declared to be most mon- 
strous — a gross attack upon the liberties of the People." 

Then follows an attempt to defend the measure. Fearful that this precious morceau 
should escape the attention of his readers, the editor of the Jefiersonian thus calls at- 
tention to it : 

" On the first page, the reader will find an able refutation of the Federal slander of 
a ' standing army.' We have understood that in this, as well as in many other coun- 
ties of the State, this contemptible misrepresentation was effectively used to prejudice 
the people." * 

These are but samples of the support which the party press gave to this measure. 
A volume might be filled by similar extracts from papers published all over the Union. 
The leaders of the party manfully supported Mr. Poinsett and his details. We speak 
of those of our own county from personal knowledge. One gentleman, who is amongst 
the most active, and nearly connected with a leading politician in another State,! upon 
being asked, by a Whig, how he liked Mr. Poinsett's details, replied emphatically, 
" I endorse them — I am willing to live under them — fight under them — die under 
them." 

The Van Buren elector for this district openly defended them, one and all, and de- 
voted more than an hour of his public speech, at the Fauquier June court, to their de- 
fence. 

Upon the publication of our first address, there was a regimental muster at Warren- 
ton, our county town. In the early part of the day, the active men of the party were 

* The reader cannot but be struck with the disregard of ordinary decency in the language em- 
ployed by these prints. 
t He is the brother of the Van Buren candidate for Governor of North Carohna, 



16 

profuse in their promises of a reply to us, until a sagacious gentleman, from the lower 
end of the county, said, "Gentlemen, that will not do. The people won't take this 
bill : your best plan is to deny that Mr. Van Buren had any hand in it ;" and proposed 
that some of the most prominent should write, and procure a disavowal from under the 
President's own hand. They would not venture upon so decisive a step; but gave 
the order, '' To the right about." They had the good fortune to find, by that evening's 
mail, that the editor of the Enquirer had given the same cue. The gentleman alluded 
to, has a right to share the credit of the measure. * 

But, fellow-citizens, will you, who have hitherto honestly supported the party, 
'' turn about, and wheel about, and tAvist about," at the word of command ? We sub- 
mit, for your serious consideration and candid reply, another question, and that is, 
"whether you believe that this measure would have been abandoned it the people could 
have been pe-suaded that the opposition of the Whigs was all humbug, and ''another 
attempt on their part to delude the people by a senseless clamor," as the Jeffersonian 
would fain have persuaded them. It is not abandoned; and, as sure as Mr. Van Bu- 
Tfn is re-elected, it will be revived. 

If Mr. Van Buren intended to abandon this important feature of his policy, and de- 
prive himself and the party for which he is bound to labor as well as for himself, of the 
means of perpetuating their power, which this measure will afford, there would be no 
want of proofs the most ample, of such an intention. Thousands of his zealous parti- 
zans have visited and conversed with him during the late protracted session of Con- 
gress ; they must have fully informed him of the effect which his recommendation of 
this measure was likely to produce on the pending canvass. Those conversations, as 
well as his extensive correspondence, afforded him opportunities without number to 
disavow the measure ; or if he could not do that with truth, as we have shown he could 
not, at \e?^^t prof ess so much deference to public opinion as to yield for once to the 
wishes of the people. Yet no letter writer, no party editor, no stump speaker, has 
dared to utter any thing of the kind as coming from the President. On the contrary, 
Ave know of one at least, of those, who, if elected, is pledged to vote for Mr. Van Bu- 
ren, Avho ahvays has been, and still is, the open advocate of the militia bill. W'ewell 
remember his Avords : " There are some of its provisions," said he, " of Avhich I do not 
approve ; but I do not consider it liable to the objections Avhich have been made to it." 
What the provisions Avere Avhich he did not approve of, he did not specify, but went 
on to answer as far as he could, the objections of the Whigs. Essays by party wri- 
ters, palliating the measure and denying its tendency to the establishment of a stand- 
ing army, may be found in the columns of the Richmond Enquirer, subsequent to the 
retreat of its editor. The movement of that gentleman himself, Avas far from being 
unequivocal. His letter to the Secretary calls for an explanation and defence of the 
measure, as well as for information of the President's knoAvledge of the " plan reported 
to Congress^ The Secretary goes into an elaborate defence of his plan, adhering to 
it throughout ; and the editor expresses his entire satisfaction with the letter, leaving 
us in doubt Avhethcrhis satisfaction arose from the exoneration of the President, or his 
conviction of the wisdom of the plan by the arguments of the Secretary. If the Presi- 
dent meant to yield this measure to the people, Avhy did he not cause his majority in 
both Houses of Congress unequivocally to repudiate it. So far from doing this, he 
has, through the reports of those committees, expressly reserved the measure for fu- 
ture action, and by his servant, the Secretary of War, made a direct appeal to the peo- 
ple at the polls. t 

We Avill begin Avith the report of the committee of the Senate; but before proceed- 
ing to examine it, we Avill call your attention to a striking fact in connection with it. 
Some time after this report was made, Senator Roane moved to print 20,000 extra co- 
pies of it, for the purpose of disseminating it among the people. The subject oi i\ie 
report Avas Mr. Poinsett's militia bill: in treating of it the committee comment upon 
the reports of Generals Knox and Harrison. Mr. Webster said he had no objection to 
Mr. Roane's motion, provided the reports of Generals Knox and Harrison, and Mr. Poin- 
sett's plan, were printed along AA-ith the report of the committee, so that the people, 
having both the text ond commentary, might judge whether the commentary dealt 



* We submit to our sagacious friend, who is in earnest in the opinion that this plan for a mili- 
tia army is indefensible, whether he now thinks that Mr. Van Buren " had no hand in it?" 

+ In his late letter he endorses those reports, approves of their views, and calls them " able re- 
ports." 



17 

fairly with the text. Mr. Roane objected, and after a long debate Mr. Webster's pro- 
posal was rejected by a party vote. It was not to save the dear people's money that 
this was done, for Mr. Clay of Alabama, chairman of the committee, and author of 
their report, concluded his speech against printing them together, with a motion to 
print them separately, satisfied if the Van Buren members could send his report to the 
elect, unincumbered by the troublesome information which Mr. Poinsett's details 
would afford, and the contradiction which the reports of Harrison and Knox would 
give to his commentary. Here is a practical illustration of the extent to which their 
leaders think the democracy capable of judging for themselves. 

The report of the committee of the House, carried the tactics of the party a step far- 
ther, and misquoted the President's message. It represents the President's message 
as having only recommended the " subject" of the militia to the consideration of Con- 
gress, whereas, he, as our extract from his message shows, strongly recommended tO' 
their consideration the ''plan" of the Secretary. And these are the men who sing the 
cuckoo song, " the people are capable of self-government !" Which party desires that, 
the people should exercise that high function understandingly, the above proceedings 
of the Senate may serve to show. To proceed : 

The subject was before that committee from early in the session to the 3d of June,, 
when the report was made. We have carefully examined that report, and have been 
unable to find a word, a single word, which condemns or reproves, or dissents from the 
novel, dangerous, and unconstitutional features of the plan. It commences by saying 
that the committee thought proper to examine the subject, " in reference to the pow- 
ers of Congress." This examination would have brought directly under review the 
constitutional objections made by the Whigs, and afforded an opportunity, nay called 
for, an unequivocal expression of the opinion of the committee on those features of the 
plan. They content themselves, however, with giving extracts from the Constitution 
containing six lines, and hurry to the second branch of inquiry which they propose to 
themselves, to wit : ''the various plans which have been proposed, and such measures as 
have been adopted and matured at different periods since the adoption of the Consti- 
tution." 

In the progress of this review of the various plans and measures which have been 
proposed and adopted, the plan of the Secretary is occasionally brought into compari- 
son, and always with a preference for that plan. Far the greater part of the report is 
occupied in attempts to prove its title to preference over the plans of Gen. Harrison ;. 
and so far from condemning the proposal of the Secretary, to place the militia under 
the command of the officers of the regular army, it expressly approves the device stated 
by the Secretary in his letter to the chairman of the committee of the House, to obvi- 
ate the constitutional difficulty which was raised to this feature of the original scheme j 
a device equally unconstitutional with that which it is proposed to substitute. The 
original plan proposed that this should be done by the power of " regulation" to be con- 
fided to the President. The details sent to Congress, proposed '• that it should be done 
by act of Congress," and the report informs us (vide p. 5) that in the communication 
alluded to, (the letter) and doubtless with a view to obviate all constitutional objec- 
tions, the Secretary speaks of his purpose " to apply to the States to place by law 
their contingents at the disposition of the General Government, for a period of not 
more thafi thirty days of every year, for the purpose of being trained in conjunction 
with regular troops, and by veteran officers ;" and with this device the committee seem 
perfectly satisfied.* The committee of the other house were equally satisfied with this 
succedaneum. 

Now, tellow citizens of the militia, do you think it would much ameliorate your con- 

* The President, in his late letter, adverts to this device. He says, " Mr. Poinsett seems to 
have been more sensibly impressed with th's obstacle than his predecessors, [a statement entirely 
without foundation, for so great an obstacle did his predecessors consider the Constitution, that 
not one of them ever proposed to call cut the miHtia into the service of the United States for 
training ; they all explicitly acknowledged that the Constitution not only denied that power to 
Congress, but reserved it expressly to the States, as we shall show in the sequel] and endeavors to 
overcome it by placing his chief reliance on volunteers, and where drafts are necessary he propo- 
ses that they should be made by the States themselves. But can the constitutional objection be 
thus avoided 1 Can Congress appropriate money for objects to which their authority does not 
extend V These questions he leaves others to answer, reserving his own " until it becomes ne- 
cessary to act officially in the matter." 



18 

dilion, when taken from your homes and marched to the shores of the Chesapeake, or 
the hanks of the Delaware, and placed under the iron sway of those despisers of the 
militia, the officers of the regular army, that you had marched in obedience to the com- 
mand of the State, rather than the United States ? Would it be a consoling reflection 
when placed in solitary confinement, chained to a cannon ball, or mounted upon a 
fence rail with muskets tied to your feet, that the authority of your own State, to 
whose guardianship the Constitution framed by your fathers confided you, had sub- 
jected you to the pain and humiliation? That instead of placing you under state offi- 
cers, your neighbors and friends, and protecting you with a parent's care, it had renoun- 
ced the trust, and handed you over to the tender mercies of a court martial composed 
of strangers, selected and controlled by men familiar only with the rigor of military 
discipline, and taught to look upon human suffering with indifference ? 
i^ The proposed substitute is not only a cruel mockery, but it is as gross a violation of the 
Constitutionas that in lieu of which it is proposed. The Government of the United States 
is the creature of the Constitution. No department or officer of it, can exercise any au- 
thority which is not derived from that instrument. No additional power can be conferred 
upon it, but by an amendment of the Constitution in the mode prescribed. And if any 
State can be found base enough to abandon the protection of its citizens, by transferirng 
to the General Government a power not only not granted to it, bnt expressly reserved to 
the States, as the training of the militia and the appointment of militia officers, the de- 
reliction of duty can only be accomplished by a violation of the federal compact. Yet 
we learn from the report that it was contemplated, and is still designed, to bring the 
power and influence of the President to bear upon the State Legislatures, to accom- 
plish this very purpose ; and that "it is not probable that this co-operation will be 
withheld by any State. 

Shallow as this device is, it is to be resorted to only ''in the event of its becoming ne- 
cessary to resort to draughts in order to fill the ranks of the active class of the militia."* If 
the ''ranks" can be " filled" with volunteers, they are the President's " troops,'''' as the 
Globe calls them. The Secretary says, he is "led to believe, from the character of 
our fellow citizens, and from circumstances which have come to his knowledge, that 
it will scarcely be necessary to resort to militia draughts in order to fill the ranks of the 
active corps, "f in which case it will not be necessary " to apply to the States to place by 
law their contingents at the disposal of the General Government." And this army of 
100,000 men in " active service," to be re-enforced by 25,000 as " a reserve," annually 
increasing until the whole shall amount to 200,000, placed "at the disposition of the Ge- 
neral Government" by act of Congress, without the agency of the States, paid by the 
General Government and commanded by the President, he calls militia ! ! Militia ! ! 
Was ever the common sense of mankind so insulted ? And the Senate committee 
think it " obviates all constitutional objections !" Call it by its true name, a standing 
army of mercenary soldiers, and it does no violence to the Constitution. T\\e power 
of Congress to raise and equip armies, is without limit. For ourselves, we are "led to 
believe" that these volunteers will require a bounty, as well as pay, and that the bounty 
will be levied upon the militia. To return : 

If any doubt yet remains that the committee of the Senate looked upon this measure 
as one that was to be again brought forward, the following sentence must remove it : 
" With so many instances of fruitless attempts to change our militia system before 
them, your committee are not prepared to adopt the plan recommended by the Secre- 
tary of War, nor to make any other material change in the organization of the militia 
AT PRESENT." No, uot ijet cxactly prepared to meet the people with this plan enact- 
ed into a law. It would be rather hazardous " at present." But let Mr. Van Buren be 
re-elected ; let the efforts of the Whigs to arrest the career of despotism and ruin be 
overcome ; let the party be firmly seated in power ; and the committee will doubtless 
he ihen prepared io "adopt the plan recommended by the Secretary," or any other 
which is equally full of promise of the means of perpetuating that power.J 

Let us return from the report of the committee of the Senate to that of its twin bro- 
ther, the report of the committee of the House. We shall find the family resemblance 
so strong, that we shall have no difficulty in assigning them a common paternity. 
The last named report commences with commendations of Mr. Poinsett's plan. It 
tells us in the very first sentence, " that on due consideration of the subject committed 
to them, they find it to correspond in its essential particulars, with the plans and sug- 

* Letter to chairman of cpm. H. R. April 8th, 1840. + Idem. 
*, See Note A, at the end of the Address. 



19 

gestioQs recommended to Congress by General Washington, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madi- 
son, and General Jackson, and to differ in some of its details only, from those hereto- 
fore presented by the former Secretaries of War, General Knox, James Barbour, and 
Lewis Cass." An assertion which we shall show is entirely without foundation. 
Like its relative, it gives a garbled and unfair account of the measures adopted, and 
plans proposed, by others, with which Mr. Poinsett's compares advantageously, as the 
committee think, and that gentleman is lauded for his courage and chivalry. 

As the members of this committee have to meet the people at the polls, an ordeal 
which Hon. Senators have not to pass, they venture in a sort of under tone to express 
their belief, that the powers necessary to produce an efficient militia, "are divided be- 
tween the Geperal Government and the States," and that "nothing can be done effec- 
tually by Congress, unless the foundation of it shall be laid by the previous action of 
the States," and ask to be '' discharged from the further consideration of the subject." 
Like their brethren of the Senate, they express their satisfaction with the Secreta- 
ry's explanation of the " doubts entertained by the committee, in regard to the consti- 
tutionality of some of its provisions, by declaring that the department contemplated 
asking the consent of the States, if it should become necessarij, to call for drafts of 
the militia to fill the ranks of the class to be engaged in training, and to place its 
chief reliable e on volunteer companies.''''* 

Now, here is not only a direct approval of the leading features of the scheme, to 
wit : the substitution of volunteers collected from the rabble of the cities in place of the 
militia — the mercenary hireling for the citizen soldier — but an equally clear intimation 
that the subject is not dropped but postponed, to the end that the President may in- 
duce his servile tools in the State Legislatures to lead the way, as was done on another 
memorable occasion. But what places the fact beyond all doubt, is, that in this very 
letter of the Secretary, which was so satisfactory to both committees, and which no 
man who will give his understanding fair play can doubt, was approved by the Presi- 
dent, he expressly refers the matter to the people at the poUs. Hear what he says, and 
we beseech you, give it a full and impartial consideration : '"Aware, however, of the 
importance and comprehensiveness of this subject, together with many of the difficul- 
ties which surround it,t it is by no means my desire to precipitate the action of Con- 
gress upon a question of such magnitude and consequence." (It is indeed a subject 
of immeasurable magnitude and most portentous consequences.) " Subsequent re- 
flection and discussion have but strengthened my conviction of the propriety, practica- 
bility, and expediency of the proposed plan in its essential features, which I am per- 
suaded have but to be examined, with a candid mind and patriotic feelings, to secure 
general approbation. But these very considerations make it but the more imperative 
that it should receive the fullest and most mature consideration, even should this have 
the effect of preventing final action upon it at the present session of Congress. It is 
perhaps, universally proper, that questions involving in a high degree the great inte- 
rests of the people, should be subjected to popular, as well as legislative investigation . 
An ordeal to which the system proposed will be most cheerfully submitted." Here 
then is an open, avowed, and distinct appeal to the people at the polls. 

Mr. Van Buren has now a majority in both Houses of Congcess ; the events of the 
last session prove that they are ready to go all lengths with him. They have passed 
his Sub-Treasury bill after it has been repeatedly condemned by the people. If the 
members of Congress who represented districts which at the last spring elections con- 
demned the measure, by electing Whigs, had voted according to the opinions of their 
constituents, thus made known at the polls, it would have been lost. Five-sixths of 
the members from New Jersey, who were regularly returned, and whose political opin- 
ions accorded with the m^-jority of the people of that State, manifested by their elec- 
tions of the members of the State Legislature, were lawlessly ejected, and their 
seats given to others [who, even if they had a lean majority at the Congression- 
al election, a fact not inquired into by the House, misrepresented the present opinions 
of their constituents] in order to pass that measure. Five members from Vir- 
ginia voted for it, who represented districts which at the last spring elections gave ma- 
jorities against the Administration. The same thing existed with regard to other 
State?. And if this measure, again and again condemned by the people, was carried 

* Rep. p. 2. 

t Not the least of these was the alleged " Whig humbugs," in opposing it. 



20 

in spite of them, can any man who will alloAV himself to think, doubt, if after this so- 
lemn appeal to the people on this militia bill, admitted to be of " such magnitude and 
consequence," that it should be "subjected to popular as well as legislative investi- 
gation," its originator and patron, who has thrice recommended it to Congress, should 
be re-elected, it will be abandoned ? If there be any such, we can only deplore his 
blindness, for we know of no healing unction that will make the scales fall from 
his eyes.* 

We proceed to redeem the remaining portion of our pledge, to wit: "That the 
scheme indicated by the heads, contained in the Secretary's report to the President, 
dated 30lh November, 1839, and communicated by the latter to Congress, on the 20th 
December following, endorsed by his strong recommendation, in every essential par- 
ticular in which it varies from the details communicated by the Secretary to the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives is worse than those details.''' Those por- 
tentous heads are exhibited in the following extract from the Secretary's report : 

" It is proposed to divide the United Stales into eight military districts, and to 
organize the militia in each district, so as to have a body of twelve thousand five hun- 
dred men in active service, and another of equal number as a reserve. This would 
give an armed militia force of two hundred thousand men, so drilled and stationed, 
as to be ready to take their place in the ranks in defence of the country, whenever 
called upon to oppose the enemy or repel the invader. The age of the recruit to be 
from twenty to thirty -seven ; the whole term of service to be eight years ; four years in 
the first class, and four in the reserve; one-fourth part (twenty-five thousand men) to 
leave the service every year, passing, at the conclusion of the first term, into the re- 
serve, and exempted from ordinary military duty altogether at the end of the second 
term. In this manner twenty-five thousand men will be discharged from militia duty 
every year, and twenty-five thousand tresh recruits be received into the service. It 
will be sufl[icient for all useful purposes, that the remainder of the militia, under cer- 
tain regulations provided for their government, be enrolled and mustered at lovg and 
sfated intervals ; for, in due process of time, nearly the whole mass of the militia will 
pass the first and second classes, and be eilher members of the active corps or of the 
reserve, or counted among the exempts, who will be liable to be called upon only in 
periods of invasion or imminent peril. The manner ot enrolment, the number of days 
of service, and the rate of compensation, ought to be fixed by law ; but the details had 
better be subject to regulation — a plan of which I am prepared to submit to you." 

We will first note the points in which they agree. 

The heads propose a force of two hundred thousand men ; so do the details : the heads 
propose that it shall be divided into distinct corps, one " active," the other " reserve ;" 
so do the details : the heads propose that the age of the " recruit" shall be from twenty 
to thirty -seven; so do the details: the heads propose that the whole term of service 
shall be eight years, four in the first class, and four in the reserve ; so do the details : 
the heads propose that one-fourth, twenty-five thousand men, leave the service every 
year, first passing into the reserve, and at the end of the second term to be exempt from 
ordinary militia duty ; -so do the details : the heads propose that the remainder of the 
militia shall be mustered at long intervals ; so do the details. According to the heads 
this army is to be in the pay of the United States ; so say the details also. We ob- 
jected to the details because the militia was to be called into the service of the United 
States for ''drill," and placed under the command of the President. If the heads do 
not propose this they do worse. They propose a body of twelve thousand five hundred 
men from each district "in active service ;" that the term o( '■'■ service be four years 
in the first class, and four in the reserve;" one-fourth part to leave the '■'■service;''' 

* The President's late letter removes all doubt upon this subject. He thinks a new organiza- 
tion of the militia is necessary; objects to the plan of classification; is in favor, of course, of vo- 
lunteers ; thinks that they ought to be in the pay of the United States, and called out and placed 
in the service of the United States for training, as the only means of imparting proper " instruc- 
tion and discipline," and consequently be under his command ; hesitates about the constitution- 
aUty of the measure, but reserves himself until he shall be called on to act officially. The com- 
mittee of the House propose to wait until the States can be put in motion. The committee of 
the Senate are not " prepared at present" to act; and Mr. Poinsett appeals to the people at the 
polls ! ! AVith these facts before him, can any man, not blinded by intolerable prejudice or hur- 
ried on by passion, doubt that this measure will be again brought forward if Mr. Van Buren is 
re-elected 1 



21 

and '' twenty-five thousand fresh recruits to be received into serviced Into whose ser- 
vice we demand ? Into the service of the United States, without all doubt. Once 
in the service of the United States, and they are, by the Constitution and present 
laws, under the command of the President and such officers of the regular army as he 
may select, of senior grade to the militia officers on duty, at any place at which the 
militia may be '' stationed." In the service of the United States for what? Either 
as regular troops, or militia for "drill." If as the former, the Constitution is not vio- 
lated, but it is a standing army in name as well as eiafect. If as militia for drill, then 
the Constitution is violated, because it authorizes the militia to be called into the ser- 
vice of the United States, only "to execute the laws of the Union, repel invasion, 
and suppress insurrection." Take either horn of the dilemma: if the first, then the 
heads are worse than the details ; if the latter, they agree in this particular also. 

We objected to the details because they subject the militia, in time of peace, to the 
rules and articles of war. 

So soon as the militia are " in the service of the United States " they are ipso facto, 
by the existing law, under the rules and articles of war. The heads and details agree 
then in this also. 

We objected to the details because the United States is divided into ten districts, 
and the militia are called out by districts and not by States. In this the heads are 
worse than the details ; for they propose to divide the United States into eight dis- 
tricts, and call out the militia by districts, and not by States. "It is proposed to di- 
vide the United States (say the heads) into eight military districts, and to organize 
the militia in each district so as to have a body of twelve thousand five hundred men 
in active service, and an equal number as a reserve." 

We objected to the details because, as a part of the district system, the militia might 
be marched from any one State to another in the same district. In this respect the 
heads are worse than the details, by lessening the number and enlarging the bounds of 
the district. But they are worse still. The heads " would give an armed militia force, 
of two hundred thousand men, so drilled and stationed as to be ready to take their 
place in the ranks in defence of the country, whenever called upon to oppose the ene- 
my, or repel the invader." So that he who commands this body of two hundred thousand 
men may " station " them wherever he thinks th^y could most readily '' take their 
place in the ranks in defence of the country ;" consequently, the militia of Maine, 
instead of stopping at Vermont, may be marched to New Orleans, and '' stationed " 
there. 

Where, we demand, will be the "station" of the militia of western Virginia, wes- 
tern Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Missouri ? Does any man 
believe that we are in danger of invasion from Canada, or that a fleet of armed ships 
will ascend the Mississippi and Ohio? Let every man answer for himself the ques- 
tion, where would he be " stationed " so as to be " ready to take his place in the ranks 
in defence of the country whenever called on to oppose the enemy or repel the in- 
vader." If he can persuade himself that his station will be in the centre of the 
bounds of his own " battallion," it is well ; that is, provided always, he can persuade 
his commander-in-chief, the President, to be of the same opinion. If not, he may, 
perchance, be " stationed " at the mouth of the Columbia river, or the Sabine, at New 
Orleans, in the swamps of Florida, or on the St. Johns. 

We objected to the details because they proposed to establish a body of volunteers, 
necessarily composed of the rabble of the cities, for the citizen soldier of the militia. 
The heads are silent upon this topic, but Mr. Van Buren is the last man who can be 
benefitted by that silence. The volunteer system is all his own. 

But we have another objection to these heads which cast all that we have said of 
them, and the details, also, into the shade. We ask attention, earnest attention, we 
beg, we entreat, a candid and unbiassed consideration of the last sentence of our 
extract. After sketching the great outline of his gigantic scheme, how much of it do 
you suppose the President proposed to refer to Congress ? Hear the report which ac- 
companied his message, listen to the " plan " of the Secretary so strongly recommended 
by the President. ■' The manner of enrolment, the number of days of service, and 
the rate of compensation, ought to he fixed by law ; but the. details had better be 
subject to regulation, a plan of which I am prepared to submit to you !" 

All but the manner of enrolment, the number of days of service, and the rate of 
compensation, to be left to " regulation ! !" What is this regulation that is to bear so 
important a part in the formation, government, and command, of this military force 
3 



22 

of two hundred thousand men ? It is not law but something else ; three things only are to 
be ''fixed by law;'''' all the rest are to be '■^subject to regtdation.^' What, then, we 
again ask, is " regulation," as contradistinguished from " law ?" One at all conversant 
with the course of Congressional legislation, and the business of the great departments 
of the Government, Avould laugh at our apparent ignorance in asking this question. 
He would answer at once, "law," in this case means an act of Congress; "regulation" 
means such rules and regulations as the head of the War Department may, under the 
control of the President, from time to time, adopt and promulgate. A sort of Execu- 
tive legislation very convenient in small matters which cannot be foreseen and pro- 
vided for by Congress. Fellow citizens, you have a pretty striking example of the 
exercise of this same Executive legislation " called regulation " in the rules prescribed 
by the President, to those who are now taking the census. Congress, by law, directed 
the census to be taken. The censtis which the Constitution makes it the duty of 
Congress to take is nothing more than an enumeration of the inhabitants of the coun- 
try. But Congress, thinking it a good opportunity to procure statistical facts, author- 
ized the President to " regulate " that matter. To what extent he thinks this power 
of " regulation" reaches, all of us know, who have been applied to by the agents of 
the marshals. What the purpose is for which our wives are commanded to parade 
their ducks and chickens, we may know when the alleged bargain between the north- 
ern man with southern principles and the nullifiers shall be carried into execution. 
We trust, however, that the People will forbid the bans, and prevent the marriage, 
from whose iVuitlul bed the collector of the taxes, in our housewife thrift, is expected 
to spring. 

Having ascertained, both theoretically and practically, the meaning of this term, 
'• regulation," let us revert to the ends to be accomplished by it. It is, in the language 
of the " heads," to fix " the details" of the plan of the Secretary. What he understood 
by his '' plan of the details," which he was prepared to submit to the President, we 
may forni some notion of, from the "plan which he reported to Congress,"when, contrary 
to the recommendation of the President, that body ventured to call for them. Every" 
thing to be there found, except " the manner of enrollment, the number of days of ser- 
vice, and the rate of compensation," and any other " details" which the President might 
deem proper, were, by the original scheme, to be left to his "regulation." Was there 
ever such a demand made by the Chief Magistrate of a free people upon an indepen- 
dent Legislature? Its parallel can only be found in the commands of a Roman Empe- 
ror to a servile Senate, when it suited the policy of the usurper to retain that once au- 
gust body as a pageant to amuse the people. He, " the President," was to "regulate" 
the manner in which arms were to be provided. He might, as the "plan reported to 
Congress" " proposes," enforce the obsolete law of 1792, and then the militia would 
have to purchase their own arms and equipments. He might so " regulate" the mat- 
ter as to relieve the dear people from the trouble of bearing arms, and the expense of 
purchasing them, and furnish his '' volunteers" with arms from the public arsenals, 
which the Secretary and the Committees of Congress tell us was the real plan, and 
thus have no armed men in the nation but his |own "thoroughly drilled troops." It 
was for him to fix, by " regulation," the time and place, when and where, these 
"troops" should rendezvous. It was for him to say whether they should be "called 
into service" by battalions, and so get rid of the colonels and generals, or by platoons, 
and rid himself of all the "ignorant" officers. It was for him to say by what code of 
laws they should be governed, and by what system of tactics they should be taught — 
under what penalty the drafted man should appear at the rendezvous, or find a substi- 
stitute — how long he should be imprisoned if he was unable to pay the fine — by Avhom 
the fine should be collected and the imprisonment enforced — who should be his judges, 
and who should be competent witnesses against him. It rested with him to declare, 
as he has done, that the honor and life of a free citizen may be sworn away by the 
cook of the prosecutor, or his own servant, be he white or black, bond or free.* In 



* We state, upon the authority of an intelligent gentleman of this county, of the Van Buren 
party, who attended the meeting at Brentsville, that Senator Grundy, in his speech on that occa- 
sion, justified the decision of the naval court martial and the President, in Lieut. Hooe's case. He 
said that negro testimony was legal evidence in the case, and that no lawyer would venture to 
contradict him. He said that the Common Law governed the case — that that law knew no dis- 
tinctions founded on difference of color. He said this in the presence of Col. John Gibson, the lead 
ing Democrat of Prince William, and an elector on the Van Buren ticket — in '.he presence of 
Inman Horner, Esq., of Fauquier, another elector — of the members of the bar of Prince William, 



23 

short, had the " details" been left to " regulation," as was proposed by the plan of his 
Secretary, which he " strongly" recommended to Congress, he would have been mas- 
ter of the lives of these twohundred thousand men, and they would have been in a 
state of more abject vassalage to him than the meanest soldier of the British army is 
to his monarch when he speaks of him as " the king, my master." 

Ever since the expulsion of the Stuarts, what is called the ^^ mutiny bilP h annu- 
ally passed by Parliament. This bill regulates the government and discipline of the 
army, and prescribes the rules and articles of war. Without it, the army cannot be 
kept together an hour. So that, instead of entrusting the king with the power to fix 
these important ''details," by "regulation," he has only a lease, from year to year, for 
the army itself. And, in this democracy of ours, the President demands of Congress 
to place under his command s. permanent force of two hundred thousand men, to sub- 
ject the male population, between the ages of twenty and thirty -seven, to conscription 
to fill the ranks, and to provide, by law, for " the manner of enrollment, the number of 
days of service, and the rate of compensation," and leave the rest to him ! ! ! He is 
now master of the public purse — his hitherto irresistible patronage is to be increased 
by a large addition to the already appalling list of public officers, who hold their ap- 
pointments from him, and at his pleasure, aad by the power which the Sub-Treasury 
law will give him over the banks, and, through them and the collection of the revenue, 
over the entire money concerns of the nation — the Avhole treasure of the nation is in the 
keeping of officers, who, according to the doctrine of the party , sanctioned, as they 
contend, by the people, are subject to his orders, and responsible onlv to him — men 
who accept office, with the avowal that their oath of office means that they are not to 
perform their duties according to the best of their own skill and judgment and the laws 
of the land, but according to the ofders of the President. 

If, under the domination of the men in power, the country could ever again become 
prosperous — if our broken-down commerce should be restored, and the revenue once 
more be sufficient to meet the extravagence of the government and leave a surplus — if 
that surplus should, as under the former administration, amount to forty millions of 
dollars — if the leaders of the party should be more successful than hitherto (as they 
doubtless would be) in their efforts to prevent its distribution amongst the States — 
what a spectacle should we exhibit ! Two hundred thousand men, "embodied as a 
national guard, thoroughly drilled," and commanded by the President ; the number 
kept up by draft; all "the details," all the laws for their discipline and government, 
and the enforcement of the " draft," subject to the "regulation" of the President, who 
has in his coffers, over and above the ordinary expenses of the government, forty mil- 
lions of dollars — Aarrf dollars — to pay and subsist his " troops!" Nothing is wanted 
to realize the picture but the enactment of the heads recommended by the President, 
and a return to prosperity in our business, which is so confidently predicted as a con- 
sequence of the Sub-Treasury. And this is democracy !! ! Gracious God ! ! Demo- 
cracy !! 

How long, fellow-citizens, wiU you suffer yourselves to be deceived by names? 
How long will you lend your ears to the lying and flattering tongues of demagogues, 
and close up the avenues of your understanding by prejudice ? How long will you set 
allegiance to party above allegiance to the institutions of your country? — turn a deaf 
ear to the warning of the sober-minded, and heed only the insidious tlatterings of those 
who are fattening upon your substance? Is this great people to add another to the 
long list of nations which have forged their own chains, and worshipped Tyranny in 
the garb of Liberty ? 

We have said that the plan of the President — for it is unjust to call it Mr. Poin- 
sett's — will fill the ranks with men without property, with no common interest with 
the community — who will love only the hand that feeds them, and fear only their com- 
mander. Stupidity itself cannot be persuaded to believe that the present volunteer 
companies will enlist into this service. They are composed of the sons of substantial 
farmers, students, young professional men, merchants and their assistants, and the in- 
dustrious mechanics of the towns. No man can believe that such men, however ready 

and members of the bar of this county, belonging to the Van Buren party — and was not contra- 
dicted!! If the Common Law, unmodilied by circumstances pecuhar to our institutions and so- 
cial condition, be the law of the United States, and governs naval courts martial, it governs mili- 
tary courts martial also. And that law does not recognise slavery : so that a slave, as well as a 
free negro, may be a witness against a white man. This is not the place to discuss a legal ques- 
eion, but we differ from Senator Grundy, totiis reribus. 



24 

they may be to peril their lives to repel the invader, will voluntarily place themselves, 
for eight years, under the command of the President and his officers of the regular 
army, and submit to that discipline, that " thorough drill," by which alone '' the duty of 
obedience," deemed so essential, can be taught to the degree of perfection which Avill 
satisfy the military notions of the President and the officers of the regular army. No 
man can believe that these men will consent, in time of peace, to be assembled at 
"such places within their respective districts as the President may appoint," to be 
" taught their duties in garrison and the field, in marching and encamping, in the po- 
lice and military administration of an army," for such time as Congress may, under 
the all-controlling influence of the President, from time to time, authorize. They have 
an example before their eyes, if history did not furnish thousands, that, although they 
might begin with thirty, or even ten days, nothing is easier than the rule of addition. 
The Secretary himself, in 183S, proposed to begin with twenty thousand, and he has 
already mounted to two hundred thousand. The rule of addition was too slow in its 
operation, and he has, therefore, multiplied by ten. HoAvever willing they may be to 
rally under their country's flag to meet the first burst of war, no man of ordinary intel- 
ligence can for one moment believe that they will consent to take the whole burden 
upon themselves, and become regular troops, bound to service for eight years. 

How, then, are these " volunteers," the darhng object of the scheme, to be obtained? 
By a process as simple and efficacious as the conscription of Napoleon. 

Suppose all of us, between the ages of twenty and thirty-seven, to be enrolled and 
paraded ; one hundred thousand are wanted for "active service;" volunteers are call- 
ed for; the drum beats, the flag waves, and the recruiting sergeant calls "come, my 
brave fellows, there is no fighting to do, we only want to teach you how to march 
and shoulder your firelock, you will be called upon only '' at such times as will least 
interfere with your ordinary occupations ;"* you will receive the same pay, camp 
equipage, and quarters as the regular troops ;" "your arms will be furnished you Avith- 
out a charge," and Uncle Sam is paymaster. Some idle fellow, or hungry foreigner, 
whom Europe has cast upon our shores, is about to volunteer ; he is stopped by his 
more cunning neighbor who tells him '■ this is a very good business, but we can make 
it better; wait for the draught ; if it falls upon any of these thin skins, or these but- 
termilk farmer's sons, or these clod hoppers and mechanics, that love their wives and 
children more than their grog and a broihel, Ave Avill put them up a notch or two." Do 
you not see, at a glance, that the bounty for these one hundred thousand recruits must 
be paid on the nail by all who are not willing to become soldiers ? and do you not see 
that no man, Avho is fit to become the defender of the liberties of the country, Avill 
quit his family and business, and subject himself for Avhat is deemed the average pe- 
riod of human life, to military discipline and the life of a soldier ; to be called on Avhen 
and Avhere the President pleases, and for as long a period as a subservient Congress 
may authorize, even in time of peace and in Avar to do all the fighting ? Those "yvho 
are better at figures than Ave profess to be may calculate the amount of this capitation 
tax to be levied on the militia, not to arm themselves for their own defence, but, as 
a bounty to a parcel of vagabonds, to enlist in the service of the President. This 
operation is to be repeated every year, at the rate of tAventy-five thousand a year. An- 
nually Avill twenty-five thousand of these vagabonds be discharged from service, only 
as substitutes to enter it again for tAventy-five thousand honest men, Avho will be 
draughted to keep up the number to tAvo hundred thousand. Very " simple " and very 
"efficient" truly ! 

The plan to impart to the citizen a knoAvlegc of military tactics, by drilling a hire- 
ling substitute, deserves the praise of originality at least. We knoAv that a man may 
legislate by his representative, contract by agent, bring a suit by attorney, and fight by 
substitute, but to. learn by substitute is an improvement reserved for this inventive age. 
" If it work Avell it may gradually be extended to the whole United States ;" and 
members of Congress may learn to debate Avithout violating the rules of decorum ; 
certain editors and demagogues that Ave Avotofmay learn to tell the truth, sub-treasu- 
rers may learn to keep their hands out of our pockets ; and the President may learn 
respect for the Constitution. 

And what great benefit, it may be asked, Avill the President and his party derive from 
these recruits? The first and most strikmg benefit is, that upon every principle Avhich 
influences liuman action, if not immediately, after a fcAV years of discipline under the 
orders of the President, by officers of the regular army, every man of the corps Avill 

* Vide explanatory letter. 



25 

be true to the flag of the party. Only imagine that at this time there were eignteen 
thousand of these recruits, " thoroughly drilled," in the State of New York, who 
would control the election in the Empire State '] Suppose 10,000 in Pennsylvania, 
who would be master of the keystone 1 and who will control Ohio, and the west and 
the south, and Maryland, and the ancient Dominion herself, when their quotas of two 
hundred thousand men (for by the next Presidental election that will be the number) 
are marched to the polls with drums beating, and colors flying? As a political engine, 
joined to the patronage of the Government and the command of the public purse, it 
will render any party, which may be in possession of power, irresistible, even at the 
polls, where, alone, the People have power. 

But there is another use to which it is to be put. According to an express provision 
of the plan the President is to be invested with power, not when called on by the civil 
authority, but whenever he deems it necessary, to call out these trained bands to exe- 
cute the laws, and suppress insurrection. At his command, therefore, they are to 
point their bayonets at the bosoms of the citizens. When the People shall find that 
they are overpowered at the polls by the corrupt agents of the Executive, backed by 
his mercenaries, and dare to assemble to devise means to assert their rights, and re- 
lieve themselves from grievances brought upon them by the misrule and rapacity of the 
Government and its minions, it rests with the President to pronounce them "insur- 
gents ;" and having so pronounced, he may order them to be dispersed by his soldiers. 

By the nineteenth section of the proposed plan it is declared "that whenever the 
laws of the United States shall be opposed, or the execution thereof obstructed in any 
State bv combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial 
proceeding, or by the powers vested in the marshal, it ,shall be lawful for the President 
of the United States to call forth the rnilitia of such State, or of any other State or 
States, as may be necessary to suppress such cambinations, and cause the laws to be 
duly executed, and the use of the militia so to be called forth, may be continued, if 
necessary, until the expiration of thirty days after the commencement of the then next 
session of Congress, Provided, That whenever it may be necessary, in the judgment 
of the President, to use the military force thus called forth, he shall, fortnwith, by 
proclamation, command such insurgents to disperse, and retire peaceably to their re- 
spective abodes Avithin a limited time ; And provided also, That the militia, which^ 
the President is thus authorized to call forth, be of the active, or of the active and 
sedentary forces, when such force or forces of the State, or of the neighboring States 
shall be, in his opinion sufficient ; and, when not, then such portions of the mass as 
he shall deem necessary." 

Your Democratic President, backed by two hundred thousand Democratic soldiers, 
pronounces his Democratic People " insurgents" whenever, in his "judgment," 
they deserve that name, and commands them to go about their business, and not 
disturb his Government or murmur at his laws ! 

Such a power, supported only by the scattered regiments of the present army and 
the citizen soldiers of the militia, is harmless ; but backed by two hundred thousand 
mercenaries, it will render the President master of the country. 

Although the issue Avhich we tendered in our first address has not been joined in 
the mode which we invited, and which alone can put us on equal ground with the 
adverse party. We will ask your further attention (which although our feeble powers 
may be unable to engage through so long a discussion, yet we trust the importance of 
the subject has kept awake) to some of the defences which have been attempted to 
the mUitia bill. 

We beg you to remember that, in our former address, Ave considered it in tAvo as- 
pects, first, as a bona fide scheme to train the militia in the mode set forth in the plan; 
secondly, as a " mask" for a standing army. After going through Mr. Poinsett's de- 
tails Ave said " such is the monster as it is exhibited to you by its creator. Hideous 
as it is, it is but the mask Avhich conceals one still more hideous." " A single stroke 
of the pen, and the insertion of a single line would relieve the dear People from the 
encumbrance of arms, and furnish the active corps from the well stored arsenals of 
the General Government ; and thus the work of creating a standing army, composed 
■ of the rabble of the country, Avould be accomplished." 

In the year 1792, Congress passed a laAV requiring the militia to arm and equip them- 
selves ; no penalty Avas imposed for non comphance: so that it Avas, in effect, a mere 
recornmendation. In 1808, the recommendation Avas virtually withdrawn by an appro- 
ipriation (an inadequate one) for supplying the militia with arms. 

When, therefore, the Secretary, at the very commencement of his plan, says : " It 



26 

should be provided that every man of the age of twenty and under forty-five should 
supply himself with a musket, &c. ; and, by the twenty-first section, reiterated the 
requisition ' that every citizen, duly enrolled, in the militia, shall be constantly provided 
with arms, accoutrements, and ammunition, as already pointed out, &c ;' " and in- 
formed us in his explanatory letter that his purpose was to accomplish his great scheme 
*' without taxing the Treasury too heavily," knowing too, as we all know full well, how 
empty are the once overflowing coffers of that Treasury. 

Viewing his plan as one bona fide intended to render the militia efficient, and form 
a body of armed citizen soldiers, we could not do otherwise than suppose that he 
meant to revive and enforce the obsolete law, or rather recommendation of 1792, espe- 
cially as no other mode was pointed out for arming even the " active class." It be- 
came proper, then, to expose the enormity of the proposal. If we did the plan injus- 
tice in this, it was because we so far gave it credit for sincerity. We suspected and 
believed, as the above extract shows, that it was all a sham, and that the "active 
corps," those in the service of the President, were to be supplied from the well stored 
arsenals of the United States ; and our suspicion is confirmed by the subsequent ad- 
mission of the Secretary, and the committees of Congress. After the exposure of the 
injustice of the proposed capitation tax, the Secretary found himself in a dilemma. 
He must either justify the tax which the people had revolted against, or he must admit 
that our suspicion of the real plan, which lay at the bottom, was well founded. He 
has chosen the latter, and it is not for us to question his sincerity in that particular. 
We have, accordingly, on this occasion, yielded to him the full benefit of that part of 
his scheme which proposes to leave sixth-sevenths of the militia an unarmed, undis- 
ciplined, and "ignorant mass;" "totally ignorant of the manner of taking care of 
themselves, or of each other, in the field ; such a militia as, if called out in mass, 
would rather prove a burden than an assistance " to an army "* while the President 
would have under his command the remaining " one-seventh embodied as a National 
"•uard " " thoroughly drilled " and armed, and paid by the United States. (Vide Globe 
of January 2.) But the Secretary, in choosing that horn of the dilemma, does not 
escape our argument against a capitation tax. We have shoAvn that by the neces- 
sary, practical, Avorking of the scheme, the militia will be subjected to a much higher 
capitation tax, in the shape of the hire for substitutes, or more properly speaking, 
bounty for his "recruits," unless, indeed, he can satisfy us that his vagabond "re- 
cruits " would rather enlist for nothing than exact a bounty from the draughted militia- 
man. Accordinsr to the last census, the number of persons liable to draught, by the 
proposed plan, may be put down at one million five hundred thousand. One man out 
of every fifteen would be called upon immediately to enter the "active corps," or find 
a substitute. Of these, seven out of ten would rather pay one hundred dollars than be - 
condemned to service in the active corps for four years, and four in the reserve. Se- 
venty thousand men must, therefore, instantly find substitutes, or enter the army as 
conscripts. Now think you that upon this great and sudden demand, a demand 
which admitted of no delay, one which must be complied with under the penalty of 
fine and imprisonment, if not martial law, that substitutes Avould be plenty as black- 
berries ? It may be imagined that payment of the fine, or suffering the imprisonment, 
provided by the twenty-eighth section, would exempt the party fronri service. This 
is a vain irnagination. The fine, and imprisonment, are punishments for an offence 
committed, not a commutation for service ; and the moment after the fine is paid, or 
the imprisonment expires, the order may be repeated, and disobedience to it would be 
a new and ag'^ravated offence, for which new and additional punishment would follow. 
There is not a word to be found in the whole scheme which countenances the idea 
that the punishment is a commutation for future service. Every man must enter 
" the service." or find a substitute. We put the price of a substitute low when the 
o-reat, sudden, and pressing demand, is considered. Seventy thousand men, at one 
hundred dollars apiece, is seven millions, and this is to be paid in cash on the nail, and 
in specie too, according to the hard-money scheme. At the end of one year, this oper- 
ation Avill be repeated , twenty-five thousand " new recruits " will be wanted, and so 
on at the rate of twenty-five thousand a year, until every man on the muster-roll has 
served, either in person or by substitute, "four years in the active class, and four 
years in the reserve," and then begin again I What think you now, fellow citizens, of 
the capitation tax, as ways and means to fill the ranks of Mr. Van Buren's army. As 
the means of raising, in four years, fourteen millions of dollars, hard dollars, from the 

♦ Explanatory letter, page 1. Senate document, No. 560. 



27 

pockets of the militia, to be squandered in riot and debauchery by '' volunteers ;" and 
a perpetual tax for the same purpose of nearly two millions a year, levied, not upon 
property, but upon men, and upon rich and poor alike ? Truly our democratic Presi- 
dent has a strong affection for his democratic friends, and for their money also. 

In defence of this " militia bill," the Committee on the Milita, of the House of Rep- 
resentatives, have said, that " it corresponds, in its essential particulars, with the plans 
and suggestions recommended to Congress by General Washington, Mr. Jefferson, 
Mr. Madison, and General Jackson, and to differ, in some of its details only, from 
those heretofore presented by the former Secretaries of War, Gen. Knox, James Bar- 
bour, and Lewis Cass." As the details in which it is admitted to differ from the plans 
presented by the three last-named gentlemen, are not specified, there is quite room 
enough to reconcile that part of the sentence with what we have said. We deny, ut- 
terly deny, that any President, save Mr. Van Buren, ever recommended to Congress a 
plan agreeing with that under review, in the essential particulars to which we object. 
We do not feel called on to enter into an elaborate defence of General Washington, 
Mr. Jefferson, and Mr. Madison : nor do we intend to take up the time of cur readers in 
defending General Jackson from the slur which his quandam admirers would cast 
upon him to prop the sinking cause of his successor. We pass it as the common case 
of an old friend given up for a neAv one, and as one more instance of the facility with 
which politicians can turn their backs upon the sitting and worship the rising sun. 
But we defy them to put their finger on any instance, in any one of his jNIessages, or 
in the Reports of his Secretary of War, which countenances a plan for substituting 
the rabble rout for the citizen soldier, or which, by any possibility, could visit the mili- 
tia with the evils which we have pointed out — would take the militia from the States 
and transfer them to the United States — would take them from under the command of 
their oAvn officers and place them under the command of the officers of the regular 
army — march them, in time of profound peace, from one end of the continent to the 
other. Secretary Cass speaks of " volunteers." What volunteers ? " It would pro- 
bably be found expedient," says he, "to continue the present plan of volunteers, with 
some changes." How unlike the "volunteers" of which we have been speaking ! 

The grand movement of the party, however, is (to use their own phrase) " to carry 
the war into Africa," and defend Mr. Van Buren by attacking General Harrison. This 
line of tactics is not, like the scheme to learn by substitute, entitled to the praise of 
novelty. It is as old as the days of Scipio and Hannibai. It is the only one, hovi^ever, 
that suits their condition. Mr. Van Buren and his measures are indefensible, con- 
fessedly indefensible. They hope to find some vulnerable point in General Harrison. 
Weave not driven to folloAv their example — ou/- position is impregnable. His charac- 
ter, like fine gold, becomes brighter and brighter as new tests are applied. It is ever 
thus with a man of straight-forward truth and honest purpose. His errors (and who 
is free from errors) Avill bear exposure, because they are errors of the head, and not of 
the heart. We, therefore, shall not only " break through the thick array of the throng- 
ed legions" of office-holders, mail-contractors, and expectants, who surround Mr. Van 
Buren, "and charge home upon him,"'' but will raise the broad buckler of truth in de- 
fence of General Harrison. We might, with perfect safety, rest his defence on the 
same ground as that on Avhich Ave have placed General Jackson, and call upon his as- 
sailants to put their finger on the sentence, in any of his repotts, that would subject the 
militia to a capitation tax, either for arms or to hire substitutes — take them from the 
States and the command of their OAvn officers, and place them under the command of 
the President and the officers of the regular army — compel them, under the penalty of 
oft-repeated fine and imprisonment, to march to any point Avithin a military district 
composed of three or four States — leave the mass of the militia without arms or mili- 
tary knoAvledge, and substitute in their places tAvo hundred thousand mercenaries, en- 
listed at their expense, paid by the United States, commanded by the President. But 
we will do more : We Avill shoAvyou that he did none of these things; but the con- 
trary. 

We said that Ave do not feel ourselves called upon to defend General Washington. 
We have also said that Ave would show that the assertion of the Committee of the 
House of Representatives that the plan of Mr. Van Buren (it is not Mr. Poinsett's) 
corresponds, in all its essential particulars, with the plan of Gen. Knox, recommended 
by Washingten, is not true. In order to maintain this assertion, Ave must go back for 
a moment to the Report of Gen. Knox. Speaking of a standing force, he says, " But 
whoever seriously and candidly estimates the po^irer of discipline, and the tendency of 
military habits, Avill be constrained to confess that Avhatever may be the efficacy of a 



28 

standing army] in war, it cannot, in peace, ^be considered as friendly to the rights of 
human nature. 

" An energetic national militia is to be regarded as the capital security of a free re- 
public — and not a standing army, forming a distinct class in the community. 

"A consideration of the subject will show the impracticability of disciplining at 
once the mass of the people. All discussions on the subject of a poAverful militia, will 
result in one or the other of the following principles. 

"1st. Either efficient institutions must be established for the military education of 
youth, and that the knowledge acquired therein shall be diffused throughout the 
community by the means of rotation ; or, 

"2d. That the militia must be formed of substitutes, after the manner of Great 
Britain." 

He then goes on to show the advantage of instructing the younger portion. It sure- 
ly needs no argument to prove, that such a plan would diffuse military knowledge 
throughout the whole community, Avhen these instructed youths become old men, and 
other youths take their places. By this means General Knox thought, " the well-in- 
formed members of the community, actuated by the higher motives of self love, would 
form the real defence of the country." 

Of the second plan— Mr. Van Buren's plan— borrowed not from General Knox, but 
from Great Britain— the plan to train the militia by substitute — he says : 

" But the second principle (a militia of substitutes) is pregnant in a degree with the 
mischiefs of a standing army, as it is highly probable the substitutes, from time to time 
will be nearly the same men, and the most idle and worthless part ot the community." 
It was with this report before them, and this language of General Knox expressly con- 
demning the leading features of Mr. Van Buren's plan — condemning the great princi- 
ple on which it is founded, and recommending one of a directly contrary character and 
tendency — that the committee ventured in an official report to tell the American peo- 
ple, that there was no essential difference between the plan recommended by General 
Washington, and that recommended by Mr. Van Buren! 

So far from copying General Washington, as he Avent to Turkey for his hard mo- 
ney currency, so he proposes to go to the monarchy of Great Britain for an example 
of militia organization, which will embody '' the idle and Avorthless part of the com- 
munity" as its defenders. 

So much for General Knox. We proceed to General Harrison. He made two 
reports on the militia; one bears date 17th January, 1817, the other 9th January, 
1818. 

In the first report he proposed no change in the classification of the miliiia, but con- 
tinued that which had "been frequently recommended in reports of committees of the 
House, and in those of the Departments of War."* 

He acknowledges the difficulty and the objection on the score of expense, which 
Avould be encountered by an attempt " to instruct the present militia of the country to 
anv useful extent," and proposes to obviate it by instructing the '■'■■whole of the officers 
and sergeants." Mr. Van Buren objects "to the classification heretofore proposed," 
and instead of instructing the '-whole of the officers and sergeants," proposes to in- 
struct a portion only of the majors, captains, and subalterns. Having presented a 
plan for the "organization and classification of the militia," a bona -fide plan, and in 
Sw U jmg performed the duty assigned to the committee, he proceeds to present his 
views of improvement. 

He maintains the position that it is '' desirable that the whole male population of 
the United States of the proper age, should be trained to the use of arms, so as to su- 
persede, under any circumstances, the necessity of a standing army." 

As to the efficiency of militia, he says, "The greater part of the American militia, 
accustomed from their early youth to the tise of fire-arms, are doubtless more formi- 
dable than any other troops in the world, in defence of a line or rampart." 

Mr. Van Buren through his Secretary of War says, that the mass of the militia are 
ignorant of the manner of taking care of themselves, or of each other, and would rather 
be an incumbrance than a benefit to an army employed in defence of the country ; that 
our forts might be captured, and our cities taken and sacked, before they could be 



* Senate Doc. 560, p. 37. 



29 

taught the use of the firelock; and that the greater part of the officers are nearly as 
ignorant as the men. General Harrison said " The liberties of America must then 
be preserved as they were won, by the arms, the discipline, and the valor of her free 
born sons." Mr. Van Buren proposes to commit them to hireling substitutes, taken, to 
use the language of General Knox, from " the most idle and worthless part of the 
community." 

General Harrison said, " The safety of a republic depends as much upon the equal- 
ity in the use of arms among its citizens, as upon the equality of rights. Nothing can 
be more dangerous in such a government, than to have a knowledge of the military art 
confined to a part of the people ; for sooner or later that part will govern." Mr. Van 
Buren proposed, and his official organ, the Globe, recommended, a body of volunteers 
equal to one-seventh of the militia, as a national guard, " thoroughly drilled" and pla- 
ced under the command of the President, and paid and armed by the United States ; 
and leave the other six-sevenths unarmed free from ordinary military duty, and mus- 
tered only at long intervals. 

As the means of keeping alive a military spirit, and diffusing military knowledge 
throughout the whole mass, General Harrison proposed " that a corps of^military in- 
stitutions should be formed, to attend to the gymnastic and elementary part of educa- 
tion, in every school in the United States, while the more scientific part of war 
shall be communicated by professors of tactics, to be established in higher seminaries." 
Mr. Van Buren proposes to leave the mass in a state of ignorance, and confine all military 
knowledge to the thoroughly drilled national guard, commanded by himself. And this 
scheme, to teach the youth of the country, the children of the poor as well as the rich, 
the rudiments of military tactics, is by the committee of the Senate represented as a 
dangerous infusion of the military spirit, and as making "the mass of our citizens 
>more emphatically soldiers than those of any other nation of the world." If this would 
be the effect, they would not only be able to defend the country from foreign invasion, 
-but their liberties would be in no danger from a trained band of mercenaries. Boys at 
mditary schools are not the stuff" of which standing armies are made. Theirs are not 
the bayonets "which do hedge a King." 

The boys of the Polytechnic School of Paris led the great movement of July, which 
drove the tyrant Charles X. from the Throne, and substituted a constitutional Kino- in 
his place. The boys of the Military School of Warsaw, planned and executed "the 
attack upon the tyrant brother of the Russian Emperor, which drove him to ignomini- 
ous flight, and breathed a spirit of gallantry and devotion into their countrymen, which 
called fortli the applause of an admiring world. 

The committee of the Senate in their review of the several attempts to organize the 
militia, pass over General Harrison's second report. We Avill, however, make a few 
extracts from it, contrasting if possible still more strongly with the " new organiza- 
tion," lauded by the Globe and strongly recommended by the President. 

"2. The Constitution having made it the duty of Congress to provide for arming the 
militia, this power is not duly exercised by merely enacting that the militia shall arm 
themselves. A law to that effect, unsanctioned by penalties, will be disregarded, and 
if thus sanctioned it will be unjust, for it will operate as a capitation tax^ which the 
opulent and the needy will pay equally, and which will not be borne by the States in 
the proportion fixed by the Constitution." 

" Congress should provide arsenals, from which the militia of every part of the Uni- 
ted States could draw arms when necessary, Avhich would be a sufficient exercise of 
the power to provide for arming the militia." 

The plan "reported to Congress" by Mr. Poinsett, proposes that the militia shall 
purchase their own arms ; the letter of 8th April says it is meant that the "active 
class— the President's soldiers— shall be armed at public expense, and the mass left 
without arms. 

Gen. Harrison said 

" 3. Congress having power to provide for governing the militia only when they are in the ser- 
vice of the United States, and the authority of training them belonging to the State Governments 
the committee have not deemed it proper that Congress should prescribe the time to be devoted t(> 
training or the manner in which that object will be best effected. It is the duty of the State Le- 
gislatures to enact the necessary laws for that purpose. The committee deem it a sufficient ex- 
ercise of the power to provide for diseiplining the militia, to direct the appointment of the neces- 
sary officers, to prescribe their duties, and provide a system of discipline, comprehending the camp 
duties, instruction in the field exercise and field service of the militia." 

Is it necessary to refresh your recollections by repeating the provisions of Mr. Vaa 
® urea's plan which contrast so strongly with Gen. Harrison's ? If they are not before 



30 

your mind's eye, turn to sections 1, 10, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21, 28, 29, 33, "of the 
plan reported to Congress, to the heads of the plan " strongly recommended" by the 
President to the synopsis so often recommended by the Globe, and to the correspond- 
ence between the Chairman of the Committee of the H. of Representatives, and the 
Secretary of War. 

^But Gen. Harrison, although he manifested the most scrupulous and conscientious 
regard for the Constitution, of which such ample evidence is given by the extracts 
which we have, made from his reports, proposed an amendment to that instrument, by 
which the United States would have a concurrent power with the States to train the 
militia, and that whilst in training they should be subject to the rules and articles of 
war. He did. But here, also, the contrast between him and the President, presents 
itself in still stronger colors. Gen. Harrison acknowledged the obligation of the con- 
stitution and bowed to its authority ; in the hands of Mr. Van Buren it is pack-thread. 
Tliat which Gen. Harrison thought, and rightly thought, could only be done by the 
concurrence of two-thirds of both Houses ol Congress and three-fourths of the States, 
Mr. Van Buren proposed to be enacted into a law by his subservient majority of one in 
the House of Representatives. It was by that majority, or rather by a tie that he was 
enabled to eject the New Jersey members, and it was by ejecting them that he carried 
the other measures, and would have carried the Militia bill, but for its effect upon the 
pending election. We differ in opinion from Gen. Harrison, as to the propriety of his 
amendment, so do the great body of the Whigs, but if two-thirds of Congress and 
three-fourths of the States think it right, we shall think we are in error and that he is 
right. There is small probability of this ; under Gen. Harrison, then, you are perfectly 
safe from this innovation ; elect Mr. Van Buren, and it may be the law of the land be- 
fore Christmas. 

But although Gen. Harrison proposed that Congress should have power to train the 
militia concurrently with the States, he left the appointment of officers untouched ; 
and he was ardently desirous of instructing the whole. Let them be trained by the 
United States, or by the Autocrat of Russia — if they are all equally instructed, all 
equally armed, where, we demand, is the danger to liberty ? The rules and articles 
of war to be expounded and enforced by militia officers exclusively, although objec- 
tionable in time of peace, would be harmless when compared with the same body of 
laws enforced by militia officers selected by the officers of the regular army, whose 
judgments would be subject to the approval of the President, who might set them 
aside and direct new trials as often as he pleased, until he procured a sentence to suit 
him. We all remember that this Avas done by a Commanding General — in capital 
cases, too. A sentence which spared the lives of the accused was thought too lenient; 
they were tried over again — sentenced to death, and shot. But, we repeat it, under 
Gen. Harrison, you are in no danger of even his milder plan until three fourths of the 
nation shall consent to it. 

Upon closing this review of Gen. Harrison's plans for organizing the militia, we 
would call your attention to one striking feature, which stands out from the canvass in 
strong relief, and which is characteristic of the man. They are what they profess 
to be — honest plans for giving efficiency to the grftit body of the militia. They may 
be wise or unwise, profound or shallow, but they are honest. No standing army lurks 
behind the screen. It is the patriot soldier who speaks, and not the cunning politician. 
There is one other topic connected with this subject by the assailants of General 
Harrison, to which we will ask your attention, and fatigue it no longer. 

Not content with abandoning the defence of their candidate, and confining them- 
selves to assaults upon Gen. Harrison, ihey resort to calumnies and misrepresentations, 
which, if uttered in the ordinary transactions of life, would exclude their authors from 
the society of honest men. No sooner is one refuted than another is invented to take 
its place ; and not satisfied with this, they make despicable attempts to revive preju- 
dices and reanimate controversies, which have slept for forty years. Even the ghosts 
of the alien and sedition laws are summoned from the shades to frighten us from our 
propriety, and these things are reiterated by men who, in private life, make high pre- 
tensions to honor, truth, and fair dealing. It would be just as fair and reasonable to 
go back to the questions which agitated the nation when the Federal Constitution was 
discussed before the people, and revive the party names of Federal and Anti-federalists, 
as the friends and opposers of that instrument were designated ; or to the questions which 
disturbed the administration of Gen. AVashington, the proclamation of neutrality, the 
funding of the war debt, or Jay's treaty , as to revive the controversies of the time of the 
^Ider Adams. He, and the party which supported him, were put down just forty years 



31 

ago; such of his supporters and opposers as survive, are found indifferently in the ranks of 
the present Administration and with the Opposition. Amongst the most ardent sup- 
porters of Mr. Van Buren, are Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, Wall, of New Jersey, 
Hubbard, of New Hampshire, and Vanderpoel, from Mr. Van Buren's own district of 
Kinderhook, not forgetting Chief Justice Taney and a host of others. The first 
named gentleman is looked to by the more decent of the party, as the successor to Mr. 
Van Buren. Another gentleman of the highest character and private worth, Louis 
McLane of Delaware, who was appointed by Gen. Jackson, Minister to England, 
Secretary of the Treasury, and Secretary of State, is, and always has been, a known 
and avowed Federalist, and advocate of the measures and policy of the Federal party; 
whilst Henry Clay and Albert Gallatin, the sword and shield of Jefferson, are fore- 
most amongst the Whigs. It is, then, only a part of that plan of misrepresentation 
and deception which, in their extremity, they have thought fit to resort, that an attempt 
is made to revive the prejudices against a defeated party, and to identify Gen. Harri- 
son, who was a constant and warm supporter of Mr. Jefferson, with the old Federal 
party. As a part of this scheme, men in high places — men who take upon themselves 
the responsible task of instructing the people by their writings, have brought forward* 
the speech of General Harrison in Congress against the resolution to disband the regi- 
ments raised to meet an apprehended French war. We will give you, from the most 
authentic sources, the true history of that measure ; and remain content that our 
charge of misrepresentation — wilful misrepresentation, against the leaders of the Ad- 
ministration party, shall stand or faU by the proofs which we shall offer. We select, 
amongst many others to be found in the Van Buren papers, an article which appeared 
in the Richmond Enquirer of Mav 26th. It is republished in the Sentinel of the 
Valley and Shenandoah and Page Advertiser of July 2d, and fills half a dozen columns 
of that paper. Its main object is to defend Mr. Poinsett's plan ; and its means, an 
attack upon Gen. Harrison, over whose plan the writer gives a decided preference to 
- that of the Secretary. It was one of those elaborate defences of the ''plan reported 
to Congress," which was written before the party found it necessary to sound the 
retreat. We have to deal with it now so far as it deals with the so called '' Standing 
Army of John Adams." We select the article, because from its style and other 
qualities, it was written by a practised writer and champion of his party. It affords a 
striking instance of their skill and boldness at misrepresentation, and may therefore 
be taken as a fair specimen of the tactics of the party. 

Its title is '' Gen. Harrison's military views." It opens the attack with his speech 
upon the resolution to disband the regiments which we have mentioned, and thus 
proceeds, " The first occasion that Gen. Harrison had for expressing his opinions on 
military matters in the councils of his country, occurred during the administration of 
Mr. Adams, when the reduction of the standing army of the United States, which 
had been raised during this administration, was the topic of the day. At that time, 
I learn that Gen. William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, now called a States' Right Jef- 
fersonian Republican, made and published a strong speech against the reduction of 
this same standing army. Now, bear in mind that the Federal Administration of 
that day, increased the standing army to such an alarming extent, considering the 
population of the country, as to arouse the fears of all the Republicans — and that 
William Henry Harrison advocated its increase." We beg you to remark that, ac- 
cording to this writer, this was a '■^standing army.'''' That it was the measure exchi- 
sively of " the Federal Administration of that day," and that " it increased the stand- 
ing army to such an alarming extent as to arouse the fears of all the Republicans." 
We ask you also to bear in mind one contradiction to this statement. We say the 
regiments in question were no part of the standing army., but raised when we Avere 
in a state of hostility with France, and by the terms of the law under which they 
were raised, were to continue only so long as our differences with France continued, 
and be disbanded as soon as peace with France was concluded. That it was not the 
measure of the Federal Administration of that day, but one called for by the univer- 
sal voice of the nation. That the bill for making this addition to our miUtary force 
was introduced into the House of Representatives by Gen. Samuel Smith, of Md., a 
staunch democrat and opposer of Mr. Adams's administration, and voted for by the 
democrats generally, amongst them by Dr. Walter Jones, John Nicholas, of Virginia, 
and Albert Gallatin, of Pennsylvania ; and, in the Senate, was voted against only by 
Mason and Tazewell of Virginia, and received the support of every other member of 
that body present at its passage. That our standing army of that day did not exceed 
two thousand men, and the only addition made to it was a single regiment of artille-' 



32 j 

rists and engineers; and of the twelve regiments of infantry and one regiment of ca- ' 
valry not more than four thousand men were raised, and they were disbanded as sodn 
as a treaty was made with France; and for the correctness of our statement we oji 
peal to the authentic records of the time. 

The outrages of France commenced in the time of Washington's administratm;; 
Gen. Pinclvney Avas sent by him on a special mission to the French Republic to adj; 
by negotiation the differences between the two countries. The result of his missi 
was not known until after the election of the elder Adams. It is thus announced 
the Biographer of Washington: "In the Executive of that Republic, Gen. Pinckn 
encountered dispositions of a very diff'erent character from that amiable and concilia" > 
ry temper which had dictated his mission. After inspecting his letters of credent 
the Directory announced to him their haughty determination not to receive anot! 
Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States, until after the redress of grievan 
demanded of the American government which the French Republic had a right to ■ 
pect from it. This message was succeeded first by indecorous verbal communicati' < 
calculated to force the American Minister out of France; and afterwards by a writt 
mandate to quit the territories of the Republic."* 

"On giving to the recalled minister^ (Mr. Monroe) his audience of leave, the Presi- 
dent of the Directory addressed a speech to him, in which terms of outrage to the Go- 
vernment were mingled with expressions of affection for the People of the United 
States ; and the expectation of ruling the former by their influence over the latter was 
too clearly manifested not to be understood. To complete this system of hostility, 
American vessels were c aptured wherever found ; under the pretext of their wanting 
a document with which the treaty of commerce had been uniformly understood to dis- 
pense, they were condemned as prize." f 

Suppose these things had occurred during the admmistration of General Jackson — 
suppose Louis Philippe, Avhen he failed to pay the stipulated indemnity for French spo- 
liations, because he was unable to prevail upon the Chambers to appropriate the mo- 
ney, instead of apologizing, had dismissed our Minister, as General Pinckney w^as dis- 
missed, and commenced a war upon our commerce, Avhat say you, old Jackson men, 
would you have supported him in a declaration of war? Would you, if an invasion 
was threatened, have refused him an addition often thousand men to the army, and a few 
frigates for the navy ? And, if you would not, arc you not prepared to say that'Mr. Adams 
would have been justified in an instantaneous resort to reprisals? Every true-hearted 
American will answer in the affirmative. Yet, such was our aversion to a breach with 
our old ally, the French, that these wrongs and insults Avere pocketed, and another solemn 
embassy sent to the haughty nation. John Marshall, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 
Elbridge Gerry (the tAvo first Federalists, the last a Democrat) all patriots of the Rtfro- 
iution, and amongst the first men in the nation, Avere united in a neAv mission, to avert, 
if possible, this unnatural Avar. Their mission failed : and Ave are told by the eloquent 
historian (himself one of the envoys) that "History Avill scarcely furnish the example 
of a nation, not absolutely degraded, Avhich has received from a foreign poAver such open 
contumely and undisguised insult as Avere, on this occasion, suffered by the United 
States in the persons of their ministers. They continued (nevertheless) AA^th a pas- 
siveness Avhich must search for its apology in their solicitude to demonstrate to the 
America^n people the real views of the French Republic — to employ the onlv means in 
their poAver to avert the rupture Avhich Avas threatened and Avhich appeared to be inevi- 
table. During these transactions, occasion Avas repeatedly taken to insult the Ameri- 
can Government; open Avar Avas continued to be waged by the cruisers of France on 
American commerce; and the flag of the United States Avas a sufficient justification 
for the capture and condemnation of any vessel over VA'hich it Avaved." Amongst other 
insults, the agents of the Directory "demanded money from the United States as the 
condition Avhich must precede, not only the reconciliation of America to France, but 
any negotiation on the diflferences betAveen the two countries." The immense poAver 
of France Avas painted in glowing colors. The humiliation of the House of Austria was 
stated, and the conquest of Britain was confidently anticipated. In the friendship of 
France alone, it Avas said, could America look for safety : and the fate of Venice was 
held up to warn her of the dangers which awaited those who incurred the displea- 
sicre of the great Republic:''^ (2 Mar. 427-8.) 

* Marshall's Life of Washington, pp. 424, 5. 

+ Venice was attacked, plundered, received as an ally of Fr»nce, and then transferred to Aus- 
tria. 



33 

It IS with pride, as Americans, and gratitude to the men of that day, that we learn 
that party animosities were forgotten, and, " in every part of the continent, the favorite' 
sentiment was, "Millions for defence — not a cent for tribute." 

Gen. Smith, a leading opposition member, introduced into the House of Represen- 
tatives a bill to raise eight regiments of infantry and a regiment of cavalry. The House 
increased them to twelve regiments of infantry. The yeas and nays on the passage 
of the bill, were — 

YEAS — John Allen, George Baer, jr., Abraham Baldwin, Bailey Bartlett, David 
Brooks, Stephen Bullock, Demsey Barges, Chris. Champlin, Thos. Claiborne, Wm, 
C. C. Claiborne, James Cochran, Joshua Coit, Wm. Craik, Samuel W. Dana, Geo. 
Dent, Wm. Edmond, Thos. Evans, Abiel Foster, Dwight Foster, Jonathan Truman, 
Albert Gallatin, James Gillispie, Henry Glen, Chauncey Goodrich, Wm. Gordon, 
Andreii) Gregg, Roger Griswold, Wm. B. Grove, John A. Hanna, Robert Goodloe 
Harper, Carter B. Harrison, Thomas Hartley, Jona. N. Havens, Joseph Heisler, 
Wm. Hindman, David Holmes, Hez. L. Horner, Walter Jones, John Wilks Kitterd, 
Edward Livingston., Samuel Lyman, Wm. Matthews., John Nicholas, Harrison G^ 
Oiis, Isaac Parker, John Reed, John Rutledge, jr., James Tuckerman, Samuel Sewell, 
Nath. Smith, Samuel Smith, Peleg Sprague, Richard Stanford, George Thatcher, 
Richard Thomas, Thos. Tillinghast, Joh7i Trigg, John E. Van Alen, Philip Van 
Cortlandt, Joseph B. Varnum — 60. 

NAYS — Lemuel Benton, Thomas Blount, John Clapton, John Dawson, Matthew 
Locke, Nath. Macon, Blair M'Clinacha,n, Joseph M'Dowell, Anthony New, William 
Smith, Thomas Sumptei — 11.* 

In the Senate — 

YEAS — Messrs. Bingham, Chipman, Clayton, Foster, Goodhue, Greene, Hill- 
house, Lawrence, Livermore, Martin, North, Paine, Read, Sedgwick, Tracy — 15. 
NAYS— Messrs. Mason and Tazewell— 2. 

George Washington was appointed Commander-in-chief. 

France, disappointed in her expected support from the people of the United States^ 
gave intimations that she was inclined to peace. Mr. Adams availed himself of the 
overture, and renewed the negotiations, which terminated in a treaty. Pending these 
negotiations, and before it would have been consistent with ordinary prudence to 
adopt such a measure, a resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives to 
disband the troops which were authorized by General Smith's bill, little more than one- 
third of which had been enlisted. On this resolution. General Harrison made the 
speech — which is alleged as proof of his army propensities and Federal politics — and 
was supported by General Smith ; with whose speech we will conclude. 

''He conceived it necessary to call the recollection of gentlemen to the state of af- 
fairs when the law in question had passed. It had been thought proper by the Senate 
of the United States to pubhsh the despatches of our envoys to France, which, by him, 
and many others, was considered in no other light than as a manifesto to prepare the 
minds of the people for war; for all declared that France could not otherwise do, after 
their publication, than declare war. The House thought so, and declined the publi- 
cation on their part. However, having been made public, it became a duty to assume 
a posture of defence ; the necessity of which so strongly impressed him, that he could 
not have returned to his constituents without seeing the proper measures taken. 

'' It had been said that this part of the army was not a part of the system of defence. 
What else could it be 1 To be sure, it was not the only means of defence adopted : 
but it was considered that this army would operate valuably as a rallying point round 
which the militia would assemble ; it was thought that wherever the United States 
should be invaded, the enemy would first be met by the militia ; and that these troops, 
being prepared, would rapidly come to their aid. 

'• Under these impressions, Mr, Smith said he had thought it his duty to bring for- 
ward a resolution for raising eight regiments, and six troops of dragoons : the House 
carried it further, and voted twelve regiments and the dragoons. The measure was 
then thought to be so essential a feature of our defence, that there were but eleven 
members wto vottd against it. It will be recollected that a gentleman expressed an 

* Those in italics are known to belong to the Republican, or Opposition party. There were, 
doubtless, others, but we are unable to designate them. 



34 ^' 

opinion that the right wing of the army of England (as it was then called) would pro- 
bably come to this country (although he had no such idea:) he had thought that the 
Southern States might be in danger of a descent from Hispaniola, and therefore thought 
that a small army might be necessary. 

" It would not be considered improper for gentlemen to vote for continuing the men 
Avho had been recruited into the twelve regiments, a few months longer: for, although 
they could not be drafted into the old regiments, yet many of them might, and proba- 
bly would, be recruited for those regiments, and a saving of clothing, &c. &c. would 
thereby be effected. 

''Under this statement of facts, would gentlemen think of destroying this army at 
once "? Wonld it not be more prudent to wait two or three months for advices from 
our envoys ? He felt well assured in his own mind that a peace would be the result 
of our negotiations. If gentlemen thought with him, they would wait the event. If 
successful, the army would of course be discharged under the law. 

" The resolution, Mr. Smith said, was calculated to discharge all these men with- 
out a single shilling to carry them home. He trusted they Avould not be sent home 
without such provision as it had been usual to make. 

'' This army had been called a standing army, and it was said that excuses would- 
be found to keep it up, even after a peace. But this cannot happen, for the law ex- 
pires '■whenever the differences between France and America are made up.'' 

" Sir, said Mr. Smith, there is no man that places more reliance on the militia than 
I do ; but, before I place all my reliance on that truly essential part of our defence, 
much as I admire it, I must see a better militia law framed than exists at present. Un- 
til that time, I must say that a regular army, in case of Avar, will be always deemed 
necessary. 

" The truth being that there are not more men recruited for the new regiments than 
would fill the permanent army, of course no extraordinary expense beyond the usual 
estimated expenses of the army, except that of the officers of the thirteen regiments, 
the amount of which was not such as, in his opinion, ought to induce a conduct that 
would have but too much the appearance of versatiUty in our Government. He should, 
therefore, vote against the motion, under a firm reliance that the recruiting service 
would be stopped immediately." 

In taking leave of you, fellow-citizens, do Ave ask too much of you Avhen Ave beg that 
whenever one of those Van Buren leaders, Avriters, or editors, tell you a long story 
about Federalism, Abolitionism, or any of the isms with which they seek to beguile 
and mislead the People, that you answer them with the moral of ^Esop's fable of the 
shepherd's bov. 

R. E. SCOTT, 
SAMUEL CHILTON, 
THOMAS T. WITHERS, 
JNO. P. PHILLIPS, 
RICHARDS PAYNE, 
JNO. WALDEN. 
August, 1840. 



FIRST ADD RES j^ 

or 

THE WHir; CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

OF TAUqilER COUNTY. VIUGIISIA. 



'I'o the. People of Fququier county : 

In submitting for your consideration the following facts and ( bservations, in relation to what 
we conBider a question of great, if not vital importance, we trust that wc shall not render our- 
selves justly obnoxious to the charge of presumption. 

The importance of the pending canvass for President of the United States is felt and admitted 
by all. It involves the question of the approval or disapproval of the administration of the party 
which has controlled the measures of the Federal Government for the last eleven years ; and 
more especially does it involve the approval or disapproval of two leading measures proposed by 
the Federal Executive. One of them has been pressed in opposition to the declared opinion of 
the majority of the nation, and is now urged, with a pertinacity which evinces the high value 
set upon it, as a means of perpetuating the power of its authors — we mean the sub-Treasury 
scheme. The other, recently proposed, is one which, if it shall be adopted and carried out, so 
as to accomplish the purpose declared by its projector and avowed upon its face, will mark the 
transition of this Government from a Representative Republic to a monarchy. 

Such of you as are conversant with the discussions which the late election for members of the 
State Legislature has elicited, will at once perceive that we allude to the project for arming and 
disciplining the militia, submitted by the Secretary of War lo Congress. When questions of 
such great national concernment as we deem these to be are submitted to the people, it is the 
right, if not the duty, of every citizen, by all fair and honorable means, to use his best endeavor,' 
feeble though it may be, to awaken the attention of his fellow-ritizens to a due sense of the 
dangers'which surround them, and point out the path of safety. 

In the exercise of this undoubted right, we propose to submit to you a few facts and observa' 
lions in regard to the military measure above alluded to. In addressing you under our proper 
uignatures, we are aware of the obloquy to which we shall expose ourselves at the hands of a 
pensioned press and hireling writers. We have determined, however, to brave every thing in 
the cause of truth, and in the defence of our free institutions. We shall slate nothing as fact 
which we do not solemnly believe to be true, and stand ready to prove, by evidence which, in 
our judgment, will satisfy every man of common intelligence who sincerely desires to know the 
truth. 

We shall not be drawn aside by the assaults of anonymous writers or hireling editors, nor do 
we intend to make a crusade through the State ; but we do say that, if any man of our own 
county, of responsible character, will, under his own hand, deny any of the facts which we 
allege in this or any other communication which we may venture to make, we pledge ourselves 
lo meet him before the people, at such time and place as he may select, and either maintain our 
position or take the consequences of defeat. We confine ourselves to our own county, and leave 
it to abler advocates" elsewhere to assume and defend their own positions. We shall make no 
attempt to go beyond our own proper and narrow sphere. Within that sphere it is our purpose 
to do our devoir in favor of the cause which we have embraced. We shall not hide ourselves 
in holes and corners, but face the enemy ; and if we shall, in the end, be compelled to retreat, it 
shall not be until we have crossed bayonets, and are fairly driven from the field. We hoist the 
flag of Harrison and the Constitution — our war-cry, " God defend the right !" 

As already indicated, the subject to which we now propose to call your attention is a scheme 
for embodying and training a so-called militia force, communicated to Congress, by a letter from 
J. R. Poinsett, Secretary of War, to the Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, Speaker of the House of Rep- 
resentatives, dated 20th of March, 1840. 

The first circumstance attending this new, and, as we deem it, portentous movement, deserv- 
ing attention, is the quarter from which it emanates. Had it been submitted by some scheming 
member of Congress, we might pass it as an ephemera of the hour. It comes, however, from 
the President himself, through his Secretary of War, the head of the military department of the 
Government — one of the constitutional advisers of the President, and a member of his cabinet — 
an officer selected by him and removable at his pleasure — and has his express sanction, nty, 
his earnest recommendation, 



In the annual report of the Secretary of War, made to the President, and communicated by 

him to Congress, at the commencement of the present session, the Secretary said : 

"It is proposed to divide the United States into eight niililary districts, and to organize the 
' militia in each district, so as to have a body of twelve thousand five hundred men in active 
'service, and another of equal number as a reserve. This would give an armed militia force of 
' two hundred thousand men, so drilled and stationed as to be ready to take their place in the 

• ranks in defence of the country, whenever called upon to oppose the enemy or repel the invader. 
' The age of the recruit to be from 20 to 37 ; the whole term of service to be eight years ; four 
'years in the first class, and four in the reserve; one fourth part (twenty-five thousand men) to 
' leave the service every year, passing at the conclusion of the first term into the reserve, and 

• exempted from ordinary military duty altogether at the end of the second term. In this manner 
' twenty-five thousand men will be discharged from militia duty every year, and twenty-five 

• thousand fresh recruits be received into the service. It will be sufficient for all useful purposes 

• that the remainder of the militia, under certain regulations provided for their government, be 

• enrolled and mustered at long and stated intervals ; for in due process of time, nearly the whole 
' mass of the militia will pass the first and second classes, and be either members of the active 
•corps or ol the reserve, or counted among the exempts, who will be liable to be called upon only 
♦in periods of invasion or imminent peril. The manner of enrolment, the number of days of 
' service, and the rate of compensation, ought to be fixed by law ; but the details had better be 

• subject to regulation — a plan of which I am prepared to submit to you." 

In the message of the President to which this report was appended, the President says, "The 
♦present condition of tlie defences of our ptincipal seaports and navy yards, as represented by 

• the accompanying report of the Secretary of War, calls for the early and serious attention of 
' Congress; and, as connecting itself intimately with this subject, I cannot recommend too 

• STHONGLT TO Toun CONSIDERATION the plan Submitted by that officer for the organization of 

• the militia of the United States." 

It will be seen that the full details of the plan were matured and drawn up by the Secretary, 
at the time he made the before-mentioned report to the President. He says " a plan of which 
(that is the details) I am prepared to submit to you ;" and they had been, doubtless, seen by 
hiiu when he penned the message, in which he so strongly recommends the plan. On the 9th day 
of March last. Congress, with a view, doubtless, to carry out the plan so strongly recommended 
to them by the President — the great outline of which had been before them from the commence- 
ment of the session — passed a resolution " that the Secretary of War be requested to communi- 
cate his plan in detail for the re-oganization of the militia of the United States." In compliance 
with that resolution, the Secretary did, on the 20th of the same month, communicate the details, 
drawn out in the form of a bill, omitting only the formal words of legislation, and accompanied 
it by a letter of explanation, urging its adoption by Congress. 

This gigantic scheme — the work of time, labor and mature reflection — is then the measure of 
the President, and is the second great step in the march of the Federal Executive to uncontrolled 
power. 

The time at which it was submitted is worthy of note — the eve of the Presidential election. 
It is the well-known doctrine of the party in power, that the election of a President is an express 
sanction by the people of all his measures, and known opinions, and views. It was of course 
anticipated that this scheme, which, to say the least of it, proposes to convert this quiet country 
and its peaceful inhabitants into a nation of soldiers, would attract the attention of the Opposi- 
tion, and that its merits would be (as they have been) discussed before the people ; and if the 
responsible author of this scheme should be re-elected, there would be the fairest ground for main- 
taining that it had the express sanction of a majority of the nation. Public attention has been 
roused, thanks to the vigilance of our late able public servant, Mr. Rives, who first sounded the 
warning trumpet. The champions of the Administration have stepped forth' in its defence. A 
■writer filling a public office in Washington, for which he was obviously selected on account of 
the supposed power of his pen, has filled the columns of the leading A ministration paper in 
Virginia with an attack upon Mr. Rives, and a labored defence of the proposed militia army. 
That defence elicited the plaudits of the potent editor ; and they have been re-echoed by the 
friends of the Administration throughout the land. Nay, more ; the highly respectable gentle- 
man who is the Van Buren candidate for your suffrages at the coming election for elector of 
President and Vice President, with becoming candor, has openly taken upon himself the defence 
of the scheme. This fact we state of our own knowledge. It is, therefore, a demonstrated 
truth, that it is the measure of the President, supported by those who support his election, and 
referred to the people at the polls. Every voter, then, who goes to the polls, and votes the Van 
Buren ticket, votes that this scheme shall become a law. It behooves us then to examalne it, 
with a critical eye, in this its embryo state, and understand fully not only what it is, but what it 
is likely to become. Measures of mighty import rarely present themselves in their full propor- 
Aons at their birth. The germ which you may crush with your foot, planted in a fruitful soil, 
and cultivated with diligence and skill, will become the towering oak. 

We pass for the present the explanatory letter of the Secretary, and the praises which he be- 



stows upon this his fdvorite cfl'spring. U is before the pubhc, and we invite all inquirers to pe- 
ruse not only that letter, but the whole ilocument. It is published at large in most of the Whig 
papers. The leading Administration paper has also published the explanatory letter, but has 
hitherto kept back the details of the plan. It is to these that we mean principally to invite your 
attention on the present occasion. The merits of a scheme are not to be judged of by the re- 
commendations and praises of its projectors. Let us proceed, then, to what the Secretary calls 
the "details of the proposed system." They are divided into sections, and so worded as to serve 
for the draught of a bill, and need only the usual form of "Be it enacted by the Senate and 
House of Representatives of the United btates in Congress assemliled," to assume the imposing 
attitude and irresistible force of law. These formidable words, it is now proposed that the peo- 
ple of the United States, in the exercise of their sovereign will, shall authorize and instruct their 
servants to superadd. 

Section 1st provides, that every able-bodied male citizen over nineteen and under forty-tjve 
years of age, shall be enrolled in the militia, and notified of his enrolment by the proper officer ; 
and, " that every citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within three months thereaheT, provide 
himself icith a ^ood muskvt, bore of capacily to receive a lead ball of eighteen in the pound ; a 
sufficient bayonet and belt ; two spare Jlints ; a knapsack ; cartridge-box, to contain at least 
twenty-four cartridges suited to the bore of his musket, and each cartridge to contain a ball 
and three buckshot, and a sufficient quantity of powder ,- or with a good rifle, knapsack, shot- 
pouch, and powder horn or Jiask, with sufficient powder and ball for twenty -four charges, and 
two spare flints, and that he shall appear so armed, accoutred, and provided when called out 
for exercise or into service." 

The 2d section exempts certain privileged classes, such as the Vice President, members of 
Congress, Federal .Judges, &c., &c. , and such others as the t?tate laws may exempt. 

The 3d arranges the mass of the militia into divisions, brigades, regiments, and companies. 

The 4th provides for companies of rillemen, light infantry, cavalry, artillery, and prescribes 
their armament and equipment. 

The 5th and Gth relate to unimportant details. 

The 7th, 8th, and 9th, provide lor the appointment of Adjutant Generals, Quartermaster Gen- 
erals and Brigade Inspectors, and prescritie their duties. 

The 10th provides, " that within months after the adoption and establishment of this 

system, there shall be taken from the mass of the militia in each State, Territory, and District 
of the United Sta'es, by draught or try voluntary servic, such numbers between the &"& of 
twenty-one and thitty-seven year.s so that the whole may not exceed 100,000 men ; and in the 
following proportions for each State, Territory, and District, respectively, to wit : Maine 4 400 
men, JNew Hampshire 2,400, Vermont 2,400, J^Iassachusetts 6,000, Connecticut 2,800, Rhode 
•Island 800, New York 18,000, New Jersey 2,800, Pennsylvania 10,400, Delaware 800, Mary- 
land 3,800, Virginia 6,000, District of Columbia 400, North Carolina 4,800, South Carolina 
2,400, Georgia 2,400, Florida 400, Alabama 2,000, Mississippi 800, Louisiana 1,600, Ten- 
nessee 4,400, /Vrkansas 400, Missouri 1,200, Iowa 400, Kentucky 4,400, Illinois I,20o', Indi- 
ana -2,800, Ohio 8,000, Michigan 800, and Wiskonsin 400 men. This force to constitute the 
active class, and be denominated the active or moveable force." 

The 1 Ith section divides this active or moveable force into companies and battalions only, and 
provides for calling out lieutenants, captains, and majors; but, in all this army of 100,000 men 
there will be no militia olficer above the grade of major. When, therefore, it is assembled in 
regiments, brigades, and divisions, it will be commanded by colonels and ginerals of the regular 
army. It further provides, that the " active or moveable force shall be held to service as such 
and be governed by such rules as may be prescribed, for the period of four years ; one-fourth of 
the same in each State, Territory, and District, going out annually — the order of succession to 
be determined in the first instance by lot. 

The 12th section declares that, " there shall bo a third class, to be denominated the reserve 
or sedentary torce, which shall be organized in the same manner as the active force," that ig 
they are to be divided into battalions and companies, and have no officers above the rank of major. 
It is to be composed of those who have served four years in the active corps, and they serve four 
years more in the reserve, after which they will he "subject to no further military or militia duty, 
unless in cases of invasion or a levy en masse ; and such portions of the active force as may go 
out of the same annually, shall forthwiih be considered as belonging to the reserve or sedentary 
force; and, afler four years' service in the reserve,' one-fourth of that body shall go out of service 
annually, in the same manner as that prescribed for the second class." 

The IKth section provides, "that the deficit occasioned by the transfer annually of one-fourth 
of the active to the reserved force, and by the di.scharge annually of one-fourth of the reserve be 
yearly supplied by draught or by voluntary service from the mass." 

Thus we have at once an army of 100,000, commanded by generals and colonels selected 
by the Presidei t, and removable at his pleasure, increasing annually at the rate of 25,000, until 
we have a total of 200,000. 

The 14lh section ilivides the United States into ten military districts, as follows : Maine, New 



Hampifhire, and Verinunt, compose the first district, and furnish for the active lorce 9,200 nicfi i 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, compose the second, and furnish 9,600 ; New 
York the thin!, and furnishes 18,000 men ; New Jersey and Pennsylvania the fourth, and fur- 
nish 13,200; Delawaie, Maryland, District of Columbia, and Virginia, the fiftli, and furnieh 
10,400; North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, the sixtii, and furnish 10,000 
men; Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee, the seventh, and, furnish 8,000; Arkan- 
sas, Missouri, and fowa, llic eighth, and furnish 2,000; Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana, the 
ninth, and furnish 7,:100 men ; Ohio, Michigan, and \'\'iskonsin, the tenth, and furnish 9,200 
men ; making a grand lotal of 97,800 rank and tile, 

The 15th section numbers and prescribes the order of precedence of the difierent description 
of troops, giving precedence, first, to the troops of the United States; secondly, to the active 
force ; thirdly, to the reserved force ; and, fourthly, to the mass. 

The 16th section provides, that the ndlilia otticers of the several classes shall iie appointed in 
the maimer prescribed by ihe Legislatures of the several States, that is to say, that the States are 
to appoint the majors, captains, and lieutenants of the whole, and the generals and colonels of 
the mass ; which is never to be callct! into service, except in cases of a levy en masse, or actual 
invasion. 

The 17th section is of so I'luch importance that it is proper to insert it entire. It provides, 
that '• the President of the United States be authorized to call forth and assemble such numbers 
of the active force of the militia, at such places luithin their respective districts, and at such times, 

not exceediiig twice, nor days in the same year, as he may deem necessary ; and, during 

such period, including. the lime when going to and returning from the place of rendezvous, they 
shall be deemed iii the servic of ihe United Slates, and be suhjecl to such regulations as the 
President tnai/ think praper to ado pi for their instruction, discipline, and iniprovement in mil- 
itary knowledge.'' 

The 18th section provides for calling out the militia to repel invasion, in the following order ; 
that is, 1st, the active, 2ndly, the reserve force, and, finally, the mass; when they shall also be 
deemed in the service of the United States, and subject to the re'gulation of the President in re- 
gard to instruction, discipline, and improvement. 

The 19th section provides for calling tiiem out to enforce the lavvs and suppress insnrrectiono 
when necessary. 

The 20th section sui)ject6 the militia, wlien in the service of the United States, that is, as well 
when " called forth and assembled" by the President for '• instruction, discipline, and improve- 
ment in military knowledge,"' as to repel invasion, enforce the laws, or suppress insurrection, 
"to the sami, kulks and AUTicLiis OK WAR AS THK Tiioops OF Tiiii LImtep STAxrs," and 
provides that " no officer, non-commissioned officer, or [irivate, shall be compcUed to serve more 
tJian six months after his arrival at the place of rendezvous, in any otie year, nor more than in 
due proportion with every other able-bodied njan of the .same rank in the regiment to which he 
belongs." By which we understand, that no officer, non-connnissioned officer, or private, shall 
be compelled to serve more than tour years in the active force, and four years in the reserve force, 
yntil every other able-bodied man of the same rank, shall have performed a like service ; and that 
the President shall not have power to continue them in service for the purpose of " instr\iction, 
discipline, or improvement in military knowledge," or to rnpel invasion, or suppress insurrection, 
for more than six months afler their arrival at the place of rendezvous, in any one year; for, irs 
all these cases, they are expressly declared to be in the service of the United States, and no dis- 
tinction is made in regard to the kind of service, to which they may be held for six months. 

Section 21st reiterates the requisition upon eveij citizen enrolled in the militia to be constantly 
provided with arms, accoutrements, and anniiunilion, as required by the first section, and de- 
clares what shall be legal notice of enrolment. 

Section 22d declares that the officeis, non-commisbioiied ofiicers, and men, when called intc 
service for training or otherwise, shall receive the same monthly pay, rations, clothing, or money 
in lieu thereof, and forage, and be furnished with the san)e camp equipage as the infantry of 
the United Stales, except that when called out ibr training, they shall not I'C furnished with 
clothing, and limits the forage of the officers to that necessary for one horse and one servant each. 

Section 2.3d regulates the allowance to officers, and men of mounted companies for horses and 
nervants, and allows forty cents per day for the use and risk of each horse, except such as ars 
killed or die of wounds received in bailie. 

Section 24th regulates the compensation for horses killed or dying of wounds received in Ijattle. 

Section 2.5th allows compensation to the officers and men lor going to the place of lendezvous,. 
and returning Ironi the place of uiscliarge. 

Section 20 gives to the widows and children of officers and men who die of wounds received in 
service, half-pay for five years. 

Section 27lh provides that courls-martial for the trial of officers and men of Ihe militia, sh»lj 
be composed of militia officers only. 

Section 2Slh provides that every ofiicer, &.C., who shall fail to obey when called out for Irain- 
j.ig, shall be liued in a sum not less than half a montji'.s, and not exceeding ihrce uionlhs' pay., 



as a court-martial may determine ; and, for tailing to obey, when called out to repel invasion, or 
to enforce the laws, or suppress insurrection, shall forfeit not less than one month's pay, nor more 
tlian one year's pay ; and, if an officer, be liable to be cashiered and incapacitated from holding 
a commission for four years ; and, upon failure to pay the fines above-mentioned, they shall be 
subject to imprisonment for one month for every five dollars of such fine. 

Section 29th provides for the collection of fines and enforcement of a sentence of imprison- 
ment, by the marshal of the district. 

Section .30th provides for the payments of the fines so collected to the Adjutant General of the 
militia of the United States. 

Section 31st confers upon the marshals the same powers, in executing the laws of the United 
States, which sheriflfs possess in executing the laws of the States, 

Section 32d appropriates the fines. 

Section 33d authorizes the President, by and with the consent of the Senate, to appoint the 
Adjutant General of the militia of the United States, and prescribes his duties. 

Section 34th fixes his salary at §3,000 per annum, and declares his office to be a bureau of the 
War Department. 

Section 35th allows him two clerks, and fixes their salaries. 

Section 36th authorizes the President to establish depots for munitions and arms, and as ren- 
dezvous of the militia. 

Section 37th allows to officers and men the same compensation fos- disability from wounds as 
is allowed to ofiicers and men of the regular army. 

Section 38th provides that the present corps of volunteers shall not be disturbed or deprived of 
their privileges, but shall, nevertheless, be subject to the duties required by this system, that is, 
we suppose, be subject to be draughted into the active force, and after four years' service, fall 
into the reserve. 

Section 39th enjoins upon the State Legislatures the enactment of such laws as may be ne- 
cessary to enrol and organize the militia according to the provisions aforesaid ; and, until such 
laws are enacted, declares the present laws to remain in force. 

And, finally, section 40th gives a definition of the term "militia," which makes it mean the 
standing army which the scheme proposes ; so that, after violating the constitution and the rights 
of the citizen, it winds up with committing violence upon the English language. 

If the proposed scheme is to be considered as a plan for organizing and training the militia, 
then is it a most palpable violation of the constitution of the United Slates. The only power 
given to any department of the Federal Government over the militia of the States is that given 
to Congress by the 14th and 15th clauses of the 8th section, 1st article, and to the President, by 
the 1st clause of the 2d section, 2d article. The two former, empower Congress "to provide 
iox calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel 
invasions," and "to provide ior organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for gov- 
erning such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to 
the States respectively the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia 
according to the discipline prescribed by Congress." The latter declares the President to be 
"commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the seve- 
ral States, when called into the actual service of the United States. " Congress cannot, therefore, 
" call forth the militia" for any other purpose but to " execute the laws, suppress insurrections, 
and repel invasions ;" and it is only when they are so called forth that they can be " in the 
actual service of the United States," and it is only "when called into the actual service of the 
United States," that the President can exercise any authority over them. The only additional 
power granted to Congress is to organize, arm, and prescribe the discipline. The militia are to 
be trained, that is, "instructed and improved in military knowledge," by the States, under the 
command of officers appointed by the States. The author of the scheme, aware of this, and that 
when so trained, neither the President nor any officer of the regular army can exercise any au- 
thority over them, by the 17th section of the plan, declares that, when they are called out " for 
instruction, discipline, and improvement in military knowledge," that is, for training, "they 
shall be deemed in the service of the tJnited States ;" and thus seeks to evade one provision of 
the constitution by violating another, it being clear that the power of Congress to " call forth 
the militia" " into the service of the United States" is limited to cases where it is necessary " to 
execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions ;" and this double 
violation is committed for the purpose of placing the militia, in time of peace, under the com- 
mand of the President and the officers of the regular army, authorizing him to march them from 
one end of a military district to another, and subjecting them to the rules and articles of war. 

Again: by the constitution, the militia are to be "trained according to the discipline pre- 
scribed by Congress." By the proposed plan they arc to be subject to such regulations as the 
President may think proper to adopt for their "instruction, discipline, and improvement in 
military knowledge" — that is, instead of being " trained" by the States, " according to the dis- 
cipline prescribed by Congress," they are to be trained by officers of the regular army, according 
to the discipline prescribed by the President, 



It is difficult to conceive a greater outrage upon common sense than the attempt to palm this 
scheme upon the people, as a plan for organizing and training the militia according to the con- 
stitution. There is no escape from the most palpable violation of the constitution but to call this 
military force by its true name — "a standing army in the pay of the General Government, com- 
manded by the President." 

We will not enlarge upon the consequences of transferring to the General Government the 
absolute control of the efficient and instructed portion of the militia, and leaving to the States a 
"mass," which, according to the declared opinion of the author of the plan, is, "without dis- 
cipHue, subordination, or the knowledge of the use of arms, and totally ignorant of the manner 
of taking care of themselves or each other in the field," commanded by officers "nearly as ig- 
norant as themselves," without a solitary offi.cer instructed in the science of war, or trained and 
instructed to commarid so much as a single regiment. 

To the General Government belongs the exclusive power "to raise and support armies" in 
time of jieace ; to provide and maintain a navy ; and to raise money by import duties, the most 
convenient and productive source of revenue. As a bulwark to the States, the constitution re- 
serves to them the exclusive possession of the militia force in time of peace, and the most im- 
portant power to appoint the officers, yes, all the officers who command them. And this bul- 
wark is to be undermined. The bone and sinew of the militia, all between 21 and ^7, are by 
turns to be handed over to the President. The provision which entitles them to be commanded 
by their own officers is evaded by calling them out in battalions. If, for this purpose, an army 
of 100,000 men can be called out by ballalions, there is no reason why they should not be called 
out by platoons. 

We hasten from this general but most important view of the subject, to some of the most pro- 
minent details of the plan. 

We beg you fellow-citizens, to take up the first section — we mean that which requires every 
able-bodied citizen enrolled in the militia to equip himself with arms and ammunition — and ex- 
amine it in all its bearings and consequences. What will be the cost to each able-bodied man 
of this equipment ? Any of you may calculate. We are not conversant with such matters; 
but when we take into consideration the great and sudden demand for the articles, we think we 
are moderate when we estimate the cost to each militia-man at twenty dollars. We will there- 
fore assume this to be the cost, leaving it to your better knowledge to correct us, if we are in error. 
Now, the objection which we take, in the outset, to this plan is, that it violates the known and 
well-settled principles of taxation of modern times ; and, like its twin brother, the hard-money 
scheme, goes back to the dark ages. To be sure, the very simplest mode of taxation in the 
"World is what is called a capitation tax ; that is, a tax of so much a head ; but it is at the same 
time the most unequal and unjust, and has been repudiated for centuries past. The maxim, in 
modern times is, that when the State stands in need of the personal services of her citizen.s, 
as all are by nature endued with bone and muscle, such services should be required of all. But 
when money is wanted, as the bounties of Fortune are not showed upon all aUke, so it is not 
just that all should contribute an equal portion of those bounties. Personal services are, there- 
fore, levied upon men — pecuniary contributions upon property ; and the ingenuity of legislators 
is exercised in devising systems of taxation which will reach property in all the various forms which 
it assumes. Luxuries are taxed, because, in general, they are in the possession of men of pro- 
perty. The pleasure carriage is taxed, whilst the cart and wagon go free. The furred hat and 
broadcloth coat, worn by the rich man, pay five times the lax of the felt hat and russet coat of 
the laborer ; and if the farmer is content to wear the ileece of his own flock, and the web of his 
own loom, he pays no tax at all. The plan before us reverses the principle, and carries us back 
to the dark ages, when the nobles laid the taxes and the people paid them. 

We beg you, fellow-citizens, to take any of your own dwellings, as a centre of a circle of two 
miles in diameter, and take an account of the militia men and the property holders who reside 
within it, and work out this scheme of the President into its practical etlects. You will find a 
rich proprietor, with a large landed estate worked by slaves, and perhaps two, perhaps one, pos- 
sibly not a single son on the muster list. You will see his overseer, not owning even a horse, 
himself laboring in his vocation from dawn till night, his wife busied in her housewife cares, 
without a single help : He is on the muster list, and has to pay twenty dollars to buy his mus- 
ket, his knapsack, his catridge-box, his belts, his powder, aiid his ball. You will see also his 
tenant, who, with a horse or two, and perchance, a son, his assistant in his daily toil ; they 
are both on the muster list, and he must pay his forty dollars to arm and equip them in the 
panoply of war. Go to your muster grounds ; look at the militia companies, and say whether 
they are the men to pay the taxes of the nation. They are, without the use of either slang or 
metaphor, the bone and sinew of the country. They are the men to do the fighting; but surely 
it cannot be just to make them do all the fighting, and most of the paying also. Yet they are 
the men who, according to the system of the President, must, within three months after the 
system is adopted, pay twenty or thirty millions. According to the rate of taxation fixed by our 
State Legislature, all slaves above the age of twelve years pay thirty cents a head, and all lands 
pav ten cents upon every hundred dollars of their assessed value- The assessed value is gener- 



ally a little below the market value. The tax which the President proposes to lay on each 
militia-man is therefore equal to the tax now paid to the State by a man who owns two thousand 
acres of land, assessed at ten dollars per acre, or 66 slaves above the age of twelve ; and, if wo 
add those under twelve, we may say that it ia equal to the tax paid by a man who owns one 
hundred slaves. So much for the first section of this law, which you are required to sanction 
by your votes. 

You are already sufficiently informed of the manner in which the "active" and "reserved" 
corps of this army are to be constituted. The time during which the men may be kept in the 
"field," "in camp," and "in garrison" becomes an important subject of inquiry. The 17th 
section, which authorizes the President to "call them out for instruction, discipline, and improve- 
ment in military knowledge," leaves a blank for the number of days, beyond which they shall not 
be kept in service in any one year. The 2Cth section limits it to ^ix months, and may furnish 
the means of filling this important blank. It is proper, however, to state that, in the explanatory 
letter, the Secretary says that the great objects which he proposes to accomplish " will be eliected 
by drilling, during four years, one hundred thousand men, for a period not exceeding thirty days, 
nor less than ten days, in each and every year." So that it may not be unfair to argue that he 
designed to fill the blank in the 17lh section with the word "thirty." If this be so, there 
would be a singular discrepancy between the 1 7th and 20th sections. 

With great deference to the superior knowledge of the Secretary in regard to matters belonging 
to his Department, we venture the opinion that thirty days in each year would not be sufficient 
to form such soldiers as he proposes to make. They are to be made "available" for guarding 
our exposed frontier, which, he says, "it is impossible to guard with the small regular force of 
the United States." The militia, he tells us, as at present organized, "without discipline, sub- 
ordination, or knowledge of the use of arms, and totally ignorant of the manner of taking care 
of themselves or each other in the field," would "rather prove a burden than an assistance to 
the army employed in the defence of the country." The "generality" of the officers, he says, are 
"nearly as ignorant" as the men. Out of such materials he proposes to form soldiers v^ho will 
not only "fight bravely, manauvre coolly and skilfully in the field of battle," but who shall be 
"taught their duties in garrison and in the field, in marching and encamping, in the police and 
military administration of an army." They are to be so organized, instructed, and disciplined, 
as to " prevent tlie necessity of maintaining a large standing army, even in time of v/ar." They 
are to be "rendered ^>er/fic//i/ efficient, and ciipablc of defending the forts along our maritime 
frontier, which, in the absence of such an organization, would require a regular force of fifty 
thousand men." These ignorant officers are to acquire the "habit of command," the "prompt 
eye," "firm tone," "which inspire the men with confidence and courage, and are essential to 
secure their ready obedience ;" " to accomplish which the officers and privates, who are to act to- 
gether in the field, must be drilled together and practised, the one to the duties of obedience, and 
the other to those of command." He truly tells us that " it requires time to form a soldier, un- 
der the most practised, experienced, and skilful oificers ;" that this instruction, so essential, and 
without which it is impossible to form the soldier, cannot be given in a day's training ;* and we 
venture to add that it cannot be giv'en in ten, nor thirt}', nor sixty days a year, in four years. 

But the.se great and indispensable objects must, he says, be accomplished, or the militia will 
be "rather a burden than an assistance to an army employed in the defence of the country." 
And if ten days or thirty days be insufficient, then, as provided in the 20th section, the. Presi- 
dent may keep them in the "field, in camps, and in garrison," for half the year. 

As a means indispensable to subdue the eagle-glance of the mountaineer, and cause him to 
watch the " prompt eye," and move at the "'firm tone" of his officer, and practise the "duties 
of obedience" — in a word, to transform the freeborn citizen into that pliant machine called a 
"soldier," when "called forth and assembled" by the President for tlie purpose of "instruction, 
discipline, and improvement in military knowledge" — the militia of Western A'irginia may lie 
ordered to the banks of the Delaware or the shores of the Chesapeake; those of Maine to Vermont ; 
the men of Pittsburg to the banks of the Hudson ; those of North Carolina to the swamps of 
Florida; the mouataineeis of Tennessee to New Orleans ; Kentucky to Indiana : and Ohio to 
Wiskonsin ; and vice versa. And, when mustered into service, they are subjected to the 
Kules and Articles of War I 

None of the fines imposed by the 28th section, apply to offences committed after the rnen are 
mustered into service. They all apply to the oflence of failing to obey the ordier. calling out the 
miUtia to enforce the laws, suppress insurrections, and repel invasion, or for training. After 
they are once embodied, they are to be trained by such regulations as the President may pre- 
scribe, and governed by the same rules and articles of war as the troops of the United States, 
(vide sec. 20.) 

Now, fellow-citizens, we beg to lay before you some of these same rules and articles of war, 
to which the freeborn sons of America are to be subjected in time of profound peace. 

"Art. .5. Any officer or soldier, who shall use contemptuous or disrespectful words against the 
President of the United States, against the Vice President thereof, against thn Congress of the 

* Vide explanatory letter, passim. 



United States, or against the Chief Magit^fralc of any of tlie United States, in which they may 
be quartered, if a commissioned officer, shall be cashiered, or otherwise punished, as a court- 
njartial shall direct ; if a non-commissioned officer or soldier, he shall sufier such punishment as 
shall be inflicted on him by the sentence of a court-martial. 

" Art. 6. Any officer or soldier, who shall behave himself witVi contempt or disrespect to- 
wards his commanding officer, shall be punished according to the nature of his offence, by the 
judgment of a court-martial. 

"Art. 7. Any oliicer or soldier who shall begin, excite, cause, or join in any mutiny or se- 
dition, in any troop or company in the service of the United States, or in any party, po.st, de- 
tachment, or guard, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as by a court-martial shall be 
inflicted. 

"Art. 8. Any officer, non-commissioned officer, or soldier, who being present at any mutiny 
or sedition, does not use his utmost endeavor to suppress the same, or coming to the knowledge 
of any intended mutiny, does not without delay give information thereof to his commanding offi- 
cer, shall be punished by the sentence of a court-martial with death, or otherwise, according to 
the nature of his offence. 

"Art. 9. Any officer or soldier who shall strike his superior officer, or draw or lift up any weapon, 
or offer any violence against him, being in the execution of his office, on any pretence whatever, 
or shall disobey any lawful command of his superior officer, shall suffer death, or such other 
punishment as shall, according to the nature of his offence, be inflicted upon him, by the sen- 
tence of a court-martial." 

"Art. 20. All officers and soldiers who have received pay, or have been duly enlisted in the 
service of the United States, and shall be convicted of having deserted the same, shall suffer 
death, or such other punishment as by the sentence of a court-martial shall be inflicted. 

"Art. 21. Any non-commissioned officer or soldier who shall, without leave from his com- 
manding officer, absent himself frum his troop, company, or detachment, shall, upon being con- 
victed thereof, be punished according to the nature of his offence, at the discretion of a court- 
rnartial." 

"Art. 23. Any officer or soldier who shall be convicted of having advised or persuaded any 
other officer or soldier to desert the service of the United States, shall suffer death, or such other 
punishment as shall be inflicted upon him "by the sentence of a court-martial. 

"Art. 24. No officer or soldier shall use atjy reproachful or provoking speeches or gestures 
to another, upon pain, if an officer, of being put in arrest ; if a soldier, confined and asking pardon 
of the offended in the presence of the commanding officer." 

" Art. 37. Any non-commissioned officer or soldier, who shall be convicted at a regimental 
court-martial, of having sold, or designedly or through neglect wasted, the ammunition delivered 
to him to be employed in the service of the United States, shall be punished at the discretion of 
such court." 

"Art. 41. All non-commissioned officers and soldiers who shall be found one mile from camp 
without leave in writing from their commanding officer, shall suffer such punishment as shall be 
inflicted upon them by the sentence of a court-martial. 

"Art. 42. No non-commissioned officer or soldier shall lie out of his quarters, garrison, or 
camp, without leave from his superior officer, upon the penalty of being punished, according to 
the nature of his offence, by the sentence of a court-martial 

"Art. 43. Every non-commissioned officer and soldier shall retire to his quarters or tent, at 
the beating of the retreat ; in default of which, he shall be punished according to the nature of 
his offence. 

" Art. 44. No non-commissioned officer or soldier shall fail in repairing, at the time fixed, to 
the place of parade, of exercise, or other rendezvous appointed by his commanding officer, if not 
prevented by sickness or some other evident necessity ; or shall go from the said place of rendez- 
vous, without leave from his commanding officer, before he shall be regularly dismissed or re- 
lieved, on the penalty of being punished, according to the nature of his offence, by the sentence 
of a court-martial. 

"Art. 45. Any commissioned officer who shall be found drunk in his guard party, or other 
duty, shall be cashiered. Any non-commissioned officer or soldier so offending, shall suffer 
such corporal punishment as shall be inflicted by a court-martial. 

" Art. 46. Any sentinel who shall be found sleeping upon his post, or shall leave it before he 
shall be regularly relieved, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be inflicted by a 
court-martial." 

"Art. 50. Any officer or soldier who shall, without urgent necessity, or without the leave 
of his superior officer, quit his guard, platoon, or division, shall be punished according to the na- 
ture of his offence, by the sentence of a court-martial." 

"Art. 53. Any person belonging to the armies of the United States, who shall make known 
the watchword to any person who is not entitled to receive it, according to the rules and disci- 
pline of war, or shall presume to give a parol or watchword different from what he recived, shall 
suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a general court- 
martial " 



" Art. 64. General courts-martial may consist of any number of commissioned officersi, from 
five to thirteen inclusively ; but they shall not consist of less than thirteen, where that number 
can be convened without manifest injury to the service. 

"Art. 65. Any general officer commiindiiig an army, or colonel commanding a separate de- 
partment, may appoint general courts-martial, whenever necessary. But no sentence of a court- 
martial .'hall be carried into execution, until after the whole proceedings shall have been laid be- 
fore the officer ordering the same, or the ofHcer commanding the troops for the time being ; neither 
shall any sentence of a general court-martial, in time of })eace, extending to the loss of life, or the 
dismission of a commissioned officer, or which shall, cither in time of peace or war, respect a 
general officer, be carried into execution, until after the whole proceedings shall have been trans- 
mitted to the Secretary of War, to be laid before the President of the United States, for his con- 
firmation or disapproval and orders in the case — all other sentences may be confirmed and exe- 
cuted by the officer ordering the court to assemble, or the commanding officer for the time being, 
as the case may be. 

"Art. 66. Every officer commanding a regiment or corps may appoint for his own regiment 
or corps, courts-martial, to consist of three commissioned officers, for the trial and punishment 
of ofTences not capital, and decide upon their sentences. For the same purpose all officers com- 
manding any of the garrisons, forts, barracks, or other places where the troops consist of differ- 
cnt corps, may assemble courts-murtiHl, to consist of three commissioned officers, and decide up- 
on their senteBces. 

" Art. 67. No garrison or regimental court-martial shall have the power to try capital cases 
or commissioned officers, neither shall they inflict a fine exceeding one month's pay, nor impris- 
on, nor put to hard labor, any non-commissioned officer or soldier for a longer time than one 
month." 

This restriciion, it will be observed, does not apply to general courts-martial which are order- 
ed by generals and colonels conunanding a sepai'ate department, wh() may ap])oint courts consist- 
ing of live of their creatures, and inflict any punishment, even to the taking of life, if the Presi- 
dent so pleases. 

It will be perceived that where the bloody code spares the Ill'e of the culprit, it leaves his pun- 
ishment very much to the discretion of the court. Punishment by stripes has been abolished ; 
but the ingenuity of the tormentor has been taskt'd to substitute others equally painful. Wc are 
not personally tamihar with such matters ; but we hear of chaining to a cannon-ball, hard labor, 
Tiding a fence rail with a musket and bayonet tied to each foot for spurs. Confinement under 
guard is a thing of daily occurrence, and can be intiicted by a single officer. 

By whom is this iron-code to be expounded and enforced I By learned and responsible judges. 
Impartial juries, and the civil officers ! No : by military officers and the provost marshal ; by 
courts-martidl compo.sed of militia officers, it is true; but in the selection of which not one militia 
officer in the whole United States will have a voice ; by militia officers detailed by the colonels 
and generals of the regular army, selected by the President, and holding their commissions at 
his pleasure; tribunals before which the accused may not even be confronted by his accuser ; for, 
by the r4th article, in all cases not capital, the evidence may be by deposition. 

Such, fellow-citizens, is the formidable power which the President of (his free republic de- 
mands at the hands of his supporters. Such is the aspect of the monster as it is exhibited to you 
by its creator. Hideous as it is, it is but the mask which conceals one still more hideous. 
Should the proposed scheme be executed according to the letter and its declared purpose, some 
consolation would be found for the grindiiig exaction which it imposes upon the militia man, by 
requiring him to provide himself with arms, in the reflection that the untaught and undisciplined 
valor of numbers might successfully use those arras against the myrmidons of power; some m 
the reflection that, although the spirit of freedom in the "active" and " reserved" corps might 
be subdued by those lessons of obedience whicii are to be taught them by the President and the 
officers of his army, their patriotism might not be extinguished. But a single stroke of the 
pen, and the insertion of a line, would relieve the dear people from the encumbrance of arms, 
and furnish the active corps from tiie well-stored arsenals of the General Government; and thuH 
the work of creating a standing army, composed of the rabble of the country, would be accom- 
plished. 

To show, beyond the reach of cavil, how this would be accomplished, let it be recollected 
'hat the " active" corps is drawn from entire States : Virginia is to furnish her 6,0€0, Pennsyl- 
vania her 10,400, New York her 18,600; that the requisition may be filled by volunteers; that 
they are to receive the same pay and emoluments, c.imp equifiage and quarters, iis the regular 
troops; that their pay is to commence from the time they leave home until they return ; that 
they are to be " taught their duties in garrison and the field, in marching and encamping, in the 
police and military administration of an army," "at ."such times as may least interfere with their 
ordinary occupations;"' (vide explanatory letter of the Secretary;) that, although ihcy c.nnnct 
be ''compelled'' to serve more than a certain number of ilays in each year, nor more than four 
Ji'earsS in the "active" corps, there is nothing in the scheme which prevents them from volun- 
teering a second or a third time ; add that they are to be armed by the United States, and let the 



10 

stars and stripea wave in our cities, towns, and villages, and the roll of the drum and the voice 
of the recruiting sergeant invite the idle and profligate, and who will doubt that the rank:^ will be 
filled by such as tyrants put their trust in 1 Bear in mind, too, that the President is at this mo- 
ment in possesion of the public treasure ; and that a subservient majority in Congress stand ready 
to give the sanction of law to the usurpation. 

What is the purpose to be accomplished by this mighty scheme 1 Whence arises the neces- 
sity of converting a community of peaceful citizens into a nation of soldiers] Let Ihe Presi- 
dent's Secretary answer: "The impossibility of guarding our exposed frontier by the small 
regular force of the United States, although the militia soon will ascend to two millions of men." 
" Any attempt to organize, discipline, and render every way fit for service, the unwieldy mass, 
must fail for want of means, and leave the country exposed to the terrible disasters which will 
attend the first burst of war upon its frontiers, if they are to be defended by armed but undis- 
ciplined multitudes;'' that "our soil might be polluted by the foot of the invader, our cities 
taken and sacked, and our forts occupied, before our armed citizens could be taught the elements 
of tactics, or the simple use of the firelock."* 

One of the most profound and philosophical foreigners who has written upon our country and 
its institutions, has remarked, that "a thousand circumstances, independent of the will of man, 
concur to facilitate the maintenance of a democratic republic in the United States.'' "The 
Americans have no neighbors, and, consequently, they have no great wars, or financial crises, 
or inroads, or conquests to dread. f" 

If we cast our eyes upon the map of North America, wc see from the point at which our 
northeastera boundary touches the ocean, to the sources of the Mississippi, that we border on 
the British possessions, consisting of scattered and feeble colonies, with difficulty retained in 
iheir allegiance to the jjarent country, trackless forests roamed bv the hunter and the Indian 
savage, and separated from us by vast lakes. On our western border we have hordes of savages, 
who live but by our permission. Farther south, the friendly State of Texas, just budding into 
existence, and anxious to become a member of our political family ; and from thence the broad 
Atlantic rolls three thousand miles of water between us and the nations of the old world. 

Whence is that torrent of invasion to "burst," which can only be averted by a President, 
at the head of a numerous, disciplined, and well-appointed standing army ? From the naked 
savage ! No. From our brethren of young Texas ? No. From Great Britain, then. 

And will our navy and our forts, and our brave little army, and our two millions of militia be 
unable to prevent our "soil from being polluted, our cities taken and sacked, and our forts oc- 
cupied, by British soldiers transported across the Atlantic 1" Is it true that the hardy cultivators 
of our soil, "if called out in mass, would rather prove a burden than an assistance to the army 
employed in the defence of the country 1" That our cities might be taken and sacked, and our 
forts occu[»icd, before our armed citizens could be taught the elements of tactics or the rise nf 
Ihejirelock? Have we sunk so low that the general of an invading army, when told of the 
multitudes who arc assembling to guard their paternal hearths, may cooly reply "the thicker 
the grass, the more easily it is mown !'' 

Whither has the spirit of our fathers fled ? Time was, when, without an army, without 
r^hips, without money, without credit, and without a Government, the now despised sons of 
the soil dared to encounter the disciplined legions of Britain. But Lexington, Bunker Hill, 
Boston, and King's Mountain, have faded from the memory of the President. Did the "first 
hurst of war" in 1812 visit the country with the "terrible" disasters with which he now seeks 
to frighten us? Was our " soW polluted by the foot of the invader, our cities taken and sacked, 
and our forts occupied?" Let Stonington, and Fort McHenry, and North Point, and New Or- 
leans, and Sandusky, and Fort Meigs, and the river Thames answer. Shall we be reminded 
of Detroit and Washington ? Oan the President remember nothing but the treachery of a 
"eneral and the imbecility of a Secretary of War? Has he no joy in our victories, no confi- 
dence in our valor, no faith in our patriotism ? 

Upon what authority, wc demand, does he hold up the militia, the only safe defence of a free 
people, to derision and scorn ? He has none, we say none ; no, not a shadow. For the sus- 
tained efforts of a protracted war, ail concede them to be unsuited, but to meet "the first burst" 
of liny war which we need apprehend, they are more than competent. 

All thfs parade, then, of " soil polluted," "forts captuied," and " cities sacked," is but a pre- 
text to surround the President with an aimed force, to do his bidding — the last link in the chain, 
forged in the name of Democracy, to fetter the liberties of our country. 

.M.4T, 18'1(', V'our fellow citizens, 

R. E. SCOTT, 
SAMUEL CHILTON. 
THOS. T. WITHERS, 
RICHARD PAYNE, 
JOHN P. PHILLIPS, 
JOHN WALDEN. 

» txfHinaioty leuer. t Democracy ui Auienca, by De Tucqueville, page 288. 



11 

N. B. The following table of errata was appended to nearly all of the copies of this address 
which were distributed. The errors therein noted will be found to he corrected in this addition ; 
in no other particular does it vary from the original. 

ERRATA. 




armed by the Uniled'States. Lei," &c.,'read "add ihat they are to be arme"d byihe UnVted"srate7, and let," ir""^ 
same pa^e, line 29, insert inverted " commas'' before " any," so as to make the whole passage a nuolation • line 18 
insprt <i Lexington," before '• Bunker Hill" r c i . 






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